journal 5

Recently, I learned a lecture from Compass; it talks about how to start career consideration at the beginning of the semester. Thinking about why people need a job is the main idea of this journal. Some people hold the idea that people work because they need money to live. But I want to mention that there are some other reasons that people work.
Most people are willing to work for various reasons other than the basic necessity of surviving and supporting families. Working enables people to achieve sense of self satisfaction as well as to benefit the society. The choices for jobs are various, some people try to earn more money, while some other people emphasis their efforts towards what they are interested in.

Basically, most people work to realize their self value and enjoy happiness of success. This is also what I learned. After studying over years, they are eager to apply what they have learnt from books into practice. More specifically, most people would like to do something pragmatic rather than merely receiving theoretical information. In this case, working provides people an opportunity to embody their self value and through working, people are able to approach their dreams. For example, my father has always dreamt of owning a company. At the beginning, he worked as a sales clerk in a small scale company. After several years of working and accumulating experiences, he finally founded his own company and gradually made his dream come true.

A further reason is that, as an integral component of a society, it is everyone’s responsibility to work. After years of industrious study, individual is seems like to be anxious to do something useful in reward of the society. Some people may want to work in the government so that they can participate in the decision making which may benefit the whole nation. Some people may tend to be involved in education so as to contribute to improve average education level and also provide aptitude work force for the future. People in different professions have the same desire to devote themselves to the society.
Thus, everyone works not only for their own sake, but also for the society. They are making efforts to realize their self value of putting knowledge to practice and achieving success. In another aspect, they are also fulfilling their self value of doing something beneficial in reward of the society.

journey 4

Recently, several of my friends are discussing about renting an apartment next year. Being a freshman as I am, it is recommended to live in a dorm for the whole semester. Dormitory rooms at University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign have three types: single room, shared by two students and shared by three students. At the beginning of the semester, we had had a chance to require the university housing to arrange a certain classmate to share the room with us. But also, some students like me, are willing to let the university assign a student to share a room with you, in random.

Living in the dormitory means a new start for the majority of the university freshmen. The students are looking forward to the different life while they are also concerned about the roommates they are to live with. Some students would like to stay with who they like and they are familiar with, others would rather share a room with someone distributed by the university. As far as I am concerned, the latter opinion is better for three reasons below.

To begin with, living with a native speaker provides a natural language environment for me and it is a stimulus for my English studying. Language is always the primary burden for international students like me. If stay with a native speaker, I will have to speak English everyday. Gradually, I will be used to speak English at any time. This is better than if I choose a Chinese student to live with me. My roommate is really a nice person as she cares about me and always tries to have more conversation with me. Indeed, I pushed myself really hard to express myself and make my sentences meaningful.

Secondly, to live with someone chosen by the university enables me to communicate with students from all over the world and thus we may learn from each other's unique culture without travelling there. Communications between roommates is a method for us to develop deeper understandings about cultures around the world. I believe that such experiences will definitely be an impressive part during university life. My roommate is a Philippine, but she grows up in USA. So she is quite different from the other Whites. She told me that her family used to have rice as their staple food, and it is much more like what I it back to my hometown rather than what the American’s recipes.

Last but not least, if the university assigns a local student for me, I may get accustomed to the local society as well as the life style more easily and quickly. For example, Joyce, one of my best friends, has studied in the USA for a year. She lives with a local American student assigned by the university. At first, he could hardly accommodate the way of living there, but after a few months, she was amazed to find out that she just acted like a local resident.

To conclude, I suggest that living with a student assigned by university is a better choice, for I can not only improve my English, have an insightful understanding of local culture, but migrate into local life as well.

Outline for research essay

Liao Yuan

Endanger the Sustainable Development



Thesis statement
Plastic bags should be banned and factories produce plastic bags should be shut down in the United States, as plastic bags is regard as the top pollution source


introduction paragraph
Nowadays, governments and scientists is emphasizing on the importance of sustainable development. Citizens receive abundant of information which talks about how serious the situation is for our earth‘s environment. As plastic bags is regard as the top pollution source, a hot debate about whether we should use plastic bags or not is brought into sight. While enjoying the benefits of the invention of the plastic bags, humankind is also paying a high price.


1. Factors supporting how serious the situation is.
White Pollution Blights Landscape
China Daily May 31, 2005
A. Landfill sites are supposed to last 200 years to an estimated 1 million years.
B. Over 2 billion bags are dumped every day in China
C. Fast industrialization, rising living standards, and changes in consumption patterns
D. policy-makers are neglecting the complex nature of consumption-related environmental problems

2. Government agencies and other policy do not work out.
Shenzhen Plastic bags Consumption Decreases Seventy Percent.
Shenzhen Business Newspaper.
A. multi-faceted and long-term strategy
B. Shenzhen’s government
C. Guo Geng, a political adviser in Beijing, has proposed the introduction of a "bag tax" in a bid to help cut demand for plastic bags and raise more money to tackle pollution caused by the bags.
D. substitute for non-degradable plastic bags to reduce environmental pollution
3. Statistic supporting that tendency to use these bags excessively
Reduction of plastic carrier bag use: An analysis of alternatives in Israel
Waste Management 29 (2009) 2025–2032
A. Acceptable policy measures
B. Effectiveness of levy
C. benefit to the environment is limited
D. Comparison between levy and prohibition of plastic carrier bags use

4. Attitude and possible solutions toward this issue
Regulating Plastics Waste, Stakeholder Engagement and Sustainability Challenges in South Africa
Urban Forum (2008) 19:83–101 DOI 10.1007/s12132-008-9022-0
A. May 2003, the South African government
B. Irish and Australian experiences
C. Consumption recorded reduced after Plastic Bag Regulations in South Africa


conclusion

In conclusion, as the consuming amount of plastic bags is huge, the breaking down process for plastic bags is difficult, and the contamination for the environment and the damage for wildlife are significant, plastic bags undoubtedly should be banished and factories need to be shut down. Prevent further damage to the environment should be start from shut down plastic bags factory. Instead, paper bags which have the same function could work as a substitute for plastic bags before a new invention.

research log

topic
1. plastic bags (Sustainable Development)
2. plastic bags should be banned

save as files for resources.

sources:

1.

Abstract

Plastic carrier bags have been drawing the attention of the public and politicians. Different policy measures to reduce the environmental burden of these bags have been implemented and more are planned. The research analyzed the actual environmental aspects of consumption and use of plastic carrier bags and assessed the effectiveness of the proposed regulation in Israel. Since plastic bags are provided free of charge, people have a tendency to use these bags excessively, therefore a rigorous educational program should address this trend. However, the environmental load imposed by the bags is more a politically correct issue than an actual environmental hazard, and therefore the means for reducing their use should not include a high levy or total elimination of these bags.


2.


Abstract

In May 2003, the South African government enacted regulations banning the production of thin-film plastic shopping bags. The government advocated that such thin-film plastic shopping bags were indiscriminately discarded because they had no economic and recycling value. However, in as much as the regulations led to significant reductions in plastic shopping bags in the environment, the law resulted in severe unintended negative consequences, as jobs were lost with some businesses in the plastic shopping bag manufacturing sector closing down. The paper also reveals that key stakeholders, such as industry, business and labour, lobbied against the introduction of the regulations but without success. On average, business went down by about 83% with a conservative 25% reduction in employment. Drawing insights from the Irish and Australian experiences, this paper critically reviews sustainability debates and responses surrounding environmental regulation and business, with a special focus on the Plastic Bag Regulations in South Africa. Lessons learnt are presented with the intention to provide insights for future waste product or other environmental regulation initiatives in South Africa and elsewhere in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]



3.
http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=5&hid=106&sid=fd214048-25ae-47e1-a0e5-7a38542d9f87%40sessionmgr14&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=44760762#db=aph&AN=44760762

Abstract

The article discusses the amount of plastic waste in the ocean. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a mass of floating plastic debris that scientists estimate is at least twice the size of the state of Texas. The threat to wildlife by the debris's microplastics, which are chunks of plastic waste that have been reduced to bits of polymer by the effect of waves, wind, and sun, is explored. How the chemical toxins in microplastics harm fish and mammals when ingested are discussed.

jounral 3

Topic:
Some people believe that the Earth is being harmed (damaged) by human activity. Others feel that human activity makes the Earth a better place to live.

Environment has always been changing in order to meet human’s desires of constructing more skyscrapers and estate. Such kind of human activities do make the Earth a better place to live, but they inevitably hurt the Earth to some extent. Although young as a student, I have been concerned about the harmful effects human bring to the environment for long. And this is the most important reason for why I come to UIUC and decided to major in environment economic and policy.

Nowadays, one significant threaten human causes to the global environment is water pollution. My father once told me about his hometown, which was used to be a bucolic town in the countryside. The town was surrounded by a stream which is so clear and clean that fish even a few meters down the surface could be easily seen. My father and his friends always went to swimming in the stream. However, a few years later, as crabs gradually became delicacy on the table, farmers there began to breed crabs as a new industry to stimulate the local economy. The steam was severely polluted and it became so smelly and disgusting that one could hardly approach.

Another harmful effect is air pollution. The wasted gases from the chemical factories or other industries are released unlimitedly and hence not only cause acid rain but also faded the blue color of the sky by darkening it. The exhausted gases spread out by the vehicles result in increasing tiny dust particles in air and act as a major cause to various illnesses concerning lung and respiratory systems. Therefore, we may see that human activities generate serious problems like this and finally harm ourselves.

Lastly, the most significant and urgent problem, which should be paid intense attention to, is global warming. Due to human’s deforestation in order to grow food and the excessive release of carbon dioxide, the atmosphere is continuously kept warm. Thus greenhouse effect emerges and the Earth faces gradual increase in temperature annually. As a consequent, the ice cap in both poles will melt, which might lead to a 10-metre increase in world average sea level. If all melt, the number will be 66 which mean that most of the Earth will be submerged. Animals like polar bears and penguin will lose their natural habitats forever. Human themselves will suffer from the extreme temperature and climate change.

An eye for an eye, an ear for an ear. If human persistently harm the Earth, the Earth will definitely punish human beings by exerting the detrimental effects on human. Thus, everyone has the duty to consider more about our existing Earth. Live it, love it and care about it.

outline for Compare-and-contrast

Compare-and-contrast essay
Block organization


Demand for retail goods in China and United States

Thesis statement:
The demand for retail goods in China and that in United states share three main differences and three main similiarities.

Fact:Culture gaps and living standard differnces cause the marketing and consuming conservation concentrated on different inportances in China and United states.


.
1.Differences:
Topic sentences:
The differences related to the utility of consuming between China and United States mainly concentrate on increased variety of options, location of shopping mall and customers’ consumer perference.

Supporting details:

United state: environmental friendly products (concentrate on recycling and deposited)
China: profitable product (concentrate on price and quantity ratio)

United state: mall located on the outside of the country or city (size of the mall—huge)
China: mall located in central of the city (crowded and most developed places, size small)

United state: customers consider more about the brand and the quality
China: customers consider more about price value and convenient for using


2.Similarity
Topic sentences:
However, variable shopping ways, marketing stimulated stateges and the effect of brand exploration are almost the same in China and in United States.


Supporting details:
online shopping available (variable ways for shopping)
Discount and on sales for seasons
Products spread global (options)

outline for cause and effect

Multiple causes and effect

Topic: obesity


Thesis statement:
The causes for obesity are unhealthy food habit, the pressure outcomes and lack of exercises.
Facts:. Recent data indicate that roughly 32% of the U.S. population is obese and an additional 34% is overweight.

Topic sentence 1:
Particular unhealthy food habit such as diet contains misbalanced nutrition, animal oil, saturated sugar and excess carbohydrates prime responsible for obesity.
Supporting details:
1. All age and gender groups display hyper-protein nutrition with pronounced cellulose (fiber) deficit, high daily intake of sodium, and misbalance of mineral salts as well as a relative deficit of vitamin A, B1, and PP. The frequency of overweight individuals is 43.9%, while that of obese individuals is 23.1%.
2. extra-intake of fat (over 30 E %), which is observed for 87.9% of all investigate volunteers, and over 40 E% for almost half of the women examined.
3. the research of Dr. Weston A. Price consistently found that when cultures replaced their native diet with white flour, white sugar, and canned food, their health deteriorated and lead to obesity.
4. Obesity is a disorder of fat accumulation as opposed to a disease of overeating (too many calories).

Topic sentence 2:
Large intestine digestive disorder and leptin yield decrease as the response to the pressure from the stressful situations of daily living also lead to obesity.
Supporting details:
5. Our food digestion system (mouth, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine) helps us to obtain energy and nutrients from food. Carbohydrate, fats and protein are each digested differently within the gastrointestinal tract, but surplus calories from these three nutrients are ALL converted to body fat.
6. The importance of leptin in energy balance is illustrated by the extreme obese phenotype induced by leptin deficiency, and by the dramatic reduction in food intake and body weight. While leptin levels are closely matched to body adiposity at steady state, negative energy balance produces a fall in leptin levels that is more rapid than the change in body adiposity.

Topic sentence 3:
Obesity is the outcome of the modern life style as there are plentiful entertainments options which make people rarely do exercise.
Supporting details:
7. When I came to US and start to study in UIUC, the average exercise hours per week decreases to less than 2 hours which is 10% of that when I was in China. And in this situation, I gained the “freshman 15 pounds” within 4 weeks.
8. People prefer to spend more time in front of TV, computer and video game, cause them have less time to do exercise. The intake calories excess the fat-burn which lead to obesity after a lone time.


Cite:
0.Ogden CL, Carroll MD, Curtin LR, McDowell MA, Tabak CJ, Flegal KM: Prevalence of overweight and obesity in the United States, 1999–2004. JAMA295 :1549 –1555,2006
1&2: Cent Eur J Public Health. 2000 Feb;8(1):10-3
3&4. http://blog.wellnesstips.ca/blog/?p=168
5. Online Diets For Better Digestion and Women's Health
6.Interaction Between Exercise and Leptin in the Treatment of Obesity doi: 10.2337/db08-0007 Diabetes March 2008 vol. 57 no. 3 534-535

notes 2

body paragraphs--made up of one or more paragraphs
topic sentence-- support thesis statement
+supporting details(begining of the paragraph)
+ a concluding sentence(depends)

features
unity :the entire paragraph should concern itself with a single focus
coherence :make the paragraph easily understand by a reador
logical bridge + verbal bridge

Techniques for achieving coherence
• Using appropriate transi>onalexpressions
• Using pronouns when possible
• Using deliberate repe>>on of a keyword
• Using synonyms
• Using parallel or repeatedstructures



concluding paragraph

1.Restate your thesis statement (normally in the first sentence),
2.Summarize your topic/central ideas and why they are important,
3.Provide a sense of closure or “wrapping up.” (e.g. by using transitional expressions)
4.Call for action or overview future research possibilities.
5.Briefly state a forecast or warning based on facts developed in the paper.



avoid plagiarism, use the following three ways: quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing

journal 2

Many people visit museums when they travel to new place.

When people travel, a majority of them tend to visit the city's museums. The largest museum in Pairs attracts thousands visitor eveyday. In an museum, what you can see is not only arts, but also history. As these two aspects combained together, leading visitors a general and vivid view towards beauty and history. I also like going there often when travelling because museums provide people with deeper understandings about the place which is being visited.

First of all, different from dull history textbooks, museum is a place which displays vivid illusions of the history so that a visitor could have a direct and thrilling experience while learning about history. For example, British Museum preserves lots of antique displayed in chronicle order, which enables people to form quick images about how human society advanced step by step. They may also recall what they have read in history books and understand deeper by such illustrations. Moreover, there are plenty of explanation for each articles that telling people the historical event associated with this display. People can learn while having an eye-view satisfactory.

Next, in most places, museum has gradually become a place for entertainment and people visit there mainly to relax. When I was in Britain, I used to visit various museums like the Natural Science Museum, Albert Art Museum, the most famous British Museum. These museums are all well decorated with decent and elegant atmosphere. I spent several days visiting museum and got a more general understanding about the history of Britian. What's more, without vehicles' noise or children's shouts, museums are comparatively quiet, I feel very comfortable and relaxed while walking inside. The quiet atomosphere in museum showed an other side of Britian culture and allowed me a private-space to involve in the trip.

Finally, as museums are classified as Art, Science or other groups, travelers are able to know different aspects of a city in a short time. Many museums have their own subjects. For instance, in Science Museum, people can learn about science. Moreover, Culture Museum indicated a specific culture. The Art Museum shows a cultural aspect and may attract visitors who are fanatical about art or who are doing related jobs. Natural Science Museum offers people a view of the city's development in science aspect and students may be mostly fascinated by this. Thus different museums attract people with respective interests, but they all provide visitors diversified views to look at the city.

In conclusion, museum is an ideal place for travelers not only to learn vivid history, but also to relax in its comfortable environment as well as showing various aspects of the destinations to the visitors.

notes 1

an introductory paragraph needs to have a clear thesis statement, which has to be specific, reliable, and interesting. As well, to attract your readers, you can use sources such as historical reviews, anecdotes, famous people, statistics, and surprising statements.
Announce your intentions. Do not flatly announce what you are about to do in an essay. Avoid following expressions:
– In this paper I will …
– The purpose of this essay is to …
– I am going to discuss the causes of falling oilprices.


• You can mention
– historical review
– anecdotal
– surprising statement
– famous person

The thesis statement presents the TOPIC of you essay, your particular focus on that topic, and your PURPOSE for writing about that topic.
Basic requirement for TS
• It states the essay’s subject – the topic that you discuss
• It conveys the essay’s purpose – either informative or persuasive.
• It indicates your focus – the assertion that presents your point of view.
• It uses specific language, not vague words.
• It may briefly state the major subdivisions of you essay’s topic.

Tips for writing to professor:
1.Write from your college or university e-mail account
2.Include the course number in your subject line.
3.Think about what you're saying.

Choose an appropriate greeting. "Hi/Hello Professor [Blank]"
Avoid rote apologies for missing class.
Ask politely. "Could you e-mail me the page numbers for the next reading? Thanks!"
Proofread what you've written. You want your e-mail to show you in the best possible light.
Sign with your full name, course number, and meeting time.
Don't send unexpected attachments.
When you get a reply, say thanks. Just hit Reply and say "Thanks,"

jounral 1

People listen to music for different reasons and at different times. Why is music important to many people?

Music has always been playing an indispensable part in people's daily lives. In addition to the interests that people has developed on certain style of music, other reasons why music are important to people may involve the expression of listeners’ moods, the relief of pressure as well as memories of the past.

First of all, music is important to many people mainly because it can express people’s moods. When a boy breaks up with his girl friend, he may listen to some blues and he may find others are in common with him. If, two months later, his girlfriend agreed to give him one more chance and date with him, the boy may listen to rock everyday to express his great delight. When the boy meets another girl, he probably will begin listen to love songs and the poor ex would choose sad jazz instead of pop music. Music acts like a person who people will share feelings with. Hence, people may always refer to music no matter they are sad or jubilant.

Next, music can help people relax and release their pressure, people feel free listening to music at any time. Music is one of the best ways for people to escape temporarily from heavy work and study. Even when people are working, some people prefer to put on their earphone and concentrated on work with music background. When exhausted, it is a pleasure to listen to some classical music such as sonatas to relax. Music is another world for us to leave the complaints, concerns and all other disturbing thoughts for a short while. In other words, it always succeeds in calming our nerves besides bringing us satisfactions.

A certain kind of music may represent a certain period of time in the past or a particular person, which occupies an important part in people's lives, so that whenever people hear the music it will remind them of the memories. Try to ask yourself what will appear in your brain when the song " every night in my dreams, I see you, I feel you.." started to play. When I was in junior school, I was fond of Westlife’s songs. I used to listen to a lot of their songs of which my favorites are ‘Flying without winds’, ‘My love’ and ‘Season in the Sun’. Whenever I heard their songs afterwards, they would remind me of my junior school life. Therefore music is another kind of record of a person's life. For this reason, it is regarded as a rather important part in one's daily entertainment.

All in all, music is an unique language which tells people’s happiness, sorrow and anger; it is an effective medicine which releases our pressure, nervousness and exhaustion; it is also a valuable album which commemorates our impressive, pure and precious past.

labor day

The Labor Day in USA is similiar to the Worker day in China. But instead of one day for holiday, there are seven days in China. Here I am going to share the events I took part in during Labor Day's holidays.

On Saturday, I went to the Market Place and brought a lot of new items.

On Sunday, I actually stayed up late for the whole night and continued surfing on line since 10 PM, Saturday. Not only dealing with Maths and Ace quizs, I chatted on line with my friends who still live in China. Didn't realise the time fly so fast, the clock indicated that it was already 5 AM. Without a particular reason, I phoned my friend who lives in FAR and invited my friend to go to see the sunrise with me. Unfortunately, dense fog cover the ground and there was no splendid view for sunrise. We strolled untill we reach the southest cornor of UIUC and turned round and went to starbucks.

On Monday, a phone call interupted my dream at 10 am. Working from 10 to 2 almost drove me crazy, but nobody forced me substituted a friend's shift.

The assignment is to write an introduction about yourself, such as major, family, hobby, home country etc. The introduction should be at least 150 words.






As you know, my name is Donna, Liao Yuan, a Chinese girl who visited USA the first time.
I graduated in Shenzhen College of International Education and planed to major in environment engineering in the following four years.
During this week, I joined a lot of events, and made a lot of friends.
By the way, I have employed by Par Dinning Hall.
This made my university life busy but meaningful.
But to be honest, I am not a party girl.
Indeed, spending time with my friends and my homeworks seems to be a more interesting activity to me.
I am a big fan of football (not soccer os American football), this may be regard for another reason why i attend UIUC. There is one more tip for my hobby,
Last but not least, if there are anyone want to go shopping or go to the library, especially dealing with math problem, phone me immediately.

FLB G17

The basement computer lab! WOO! COOL!
Anyway, I am now creating my ESL114 blogger.


Is Donna a good name?
Does it fit me well?
I am so confused about my English name.

I used to be called Alyia for 3 years and recently changed my name into Elinor.
When I arrived in UIUC, I rename myself Donna as I want a new start of my life.

OK, enough.

this is for ESL114

This blog is used for ESL114 journal reqirement.

Donna Liao