What I have learned in this class Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

What I have learned in this class - Essay Example My introduction to this class laid the groundwork for a clear understanding of construction project management. I understood that this class was not going to teach me everything I need to know about this topic, but that learning is a lifelong process. Many valuable lessons can be learned from others. It may be valuable to try and think about problems in a different context and from a different perspective. It the construction industry, as in many industries, it is often the soft-side or people aspect of engineering that makes the difference. Remember that people are often the most important part of a process. People plus process equal product. So I will remember to use my education in context, learn from others, and continue to expand my knowledge of construction project management. The construction industry is very unique. Construction can be run in an open shop, union shop, or merit shop. Residential construction consists of building places for people to live such as houses or apartment building. Commercial and institutional construction consists of building structures such as office buildings. Infrastructure construction is usually civil engineering projects such as highways, bridges, or waterworks. Industrial construction involves manufacturing or power projects. The construction industry is unique, always changing, not always extremely technical, doesn’t always contain a lot of data or standardization, has a large number of participants and people involved. There has been a lot of legislation to monitor the construction industry such as requiring bids on jobs and controlling wage rates. Computers are being used more and more in the construction industry. The quality and quantity of labor in this industry are declining. Material, equipment, labor, an d management are blending more and more on the global scale. Vendors and suppliers are becoming more involved at the construction

Tobacco Industry Essay Example for Free

Tobacco Industry Essay Philip  Morris Pakistan is beginning to feel a financial pinch, and is already reducing the scale and scope of some of its manufacturing operations inside the country. In a statement released to the press on Saturday, the company announced that it will be reducing the operations in its smallest factory, located in Mandra, near Rawalpindi. The company cited â€Å"difficult economic conditions† including high taxes and low consumer purchasing power as a primary reason for the decision. The decision was described by Philip Morris as â€Å"difficult, but necessary. Among the key factors that specifically affected Mandra was a government regulation known as SRO 863(I), a 2010 law that effectively bans the marketing and sales of the smaller 10-cigarette packs, which were the mainstay of the company’s operations near Rawalpindi. Given the fact that Mandra is the company’s smallest factory, and that its main product is now illegal, the operational costs per cigarette at the plant would effectively become too high to be sustainable. â€Å"The main activity of the factory has become obsolete,† said the company in its statement. It, however, declined to say whether the factory would be completely shut down. Philip Morris did not disclose how many of its 2,363 employees in Pakistan work in Mandra and how many of them would be laid off. The company did, however, state that it would be paying the laid off workers a severance package that would exceed the legal minimum requirements. â€Å"We are committed to ensuring that all retrenched employees are treated fairly and with dignity, and genuinely appreciate the contributions that each and every employee has made over the years,† said Arpad Konye, the managing director at Philip Morris Pakistan, in the statement released to the press. The troubles at the Mandra facility are the latest in Philip Morris’ woes in Pakistan. The company had been operating as a joint venture with the Lakson Group (the parent company of Century Publications, the publisher of The Express Tribune) until 2007. In that year, the global company bought out its local partner’s share to retain well over 97% of the Pakistani subsidiary. (The remainder is listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange). The acquisition, however, does not appear to have turned out well. Profits have gone from Rs1. billion in 2007 to Rs573 million in 2010, a nearly 62% drop. The year 2011 appears to have gone even worse, with the company earning a net loss of Rs284 million for the first three quarters of the year, ending September 30, 2011. Philip Morris Pakistan has perennially been the number two player in the Pakistani tobacco industry, outshone by the Pakistan Tobacco Company, the local subsidiary of British American Tobacco. Industry insiders say that Pakistan Tobacco has better market penetration with its higher-end brands than Philip Morris. Philip Morris got into a cut-through price war with Pakistan Tobacco over the lower-end brands,† said one person familiar with the matter. â€Å"And Pakistan Tobacco has an unassailable advantage on the higher-end segment of the market because of their Benson amp; Hedges and Gold Leaf brands. † Philip Morris appears to have come out the worst of that price war, with revenues declining by 3. 9% to Rs24. 7 billion during the first nine months of 2011. By contrast, Pakistan Tobacco’s revenues went up by 12. 3% to Rs49. 9 billion during the same period.

Riding The Train Essay -- essays research papers

Riding the Train (Description Essay ENC1101) Anytime a person experiences something for the first time, that experience can reside in their mind forever. Their first kiss, first love, and first look at the sunrise may permanently float among their cherished memories. My mind contains many of these memories. Although my first train ride occurred over 15 years ago, I still recall every wonderful detail from preparing for the trip to discovering the inside of the train and the beautiful five hour ride.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It was a breezy day in the summer of 1985 and after spending a week visiting my grandparent’s home in Sebring, Florida, I prepared for my first train ride home. Recalling many old movies I’ve watched with tearful lovers embracing on rain-soaked platforms, I carefully chose my train-riding outfit: a simple, tailored white dress, a pair of lace gloves reaching only to my wrists and a braided straw hat complete with a thick red sash tied neatly around the crown with an exploding bow draping down behind me. I settled into the back of my grandfathers Cadillac and my mind filled with visions of how my first train ride would be. Arriving at the station, I tearfully kissed my grandparents goodbye a bit more dramatically than necessary. As I strolled confidently towards the train platform, I felt like Audrey Hepburn or Ingrid Bergman and was quite certain many eyes rested upon my grace and followed me through the crowded terminal. Pushing open the heavy glas. ..

Reliable Pharmaceutical Service Essay

The scope of the project is to develop a web based application for Reliable Pharmaceutical Service to ease the existing system for its employees. The new web based application should be user friendly and should be hosted at the headquarters of Reliable Pharmaceutical Service. The existing data Reliable Pharmaceutical Service should be moved into the new web based application. Before the start of the development activities of the web based application, the activities like effort estimation, risk identification, budget allocation, resource identification etc should be completed to ensure hassle free development of the project. The effort estimation should be done very precisely to ensure the timely completion of the project. The testing of the web based application plays an important role in the successful project delivery therefore the software should be extensively tested so avoid any hiccups in the future. There will be several defects that may be identified during the testing phase. The resolution of all such defects is also in the scope of this project. The existing losses of Reliable Pharmaceutical Service are due to the complex system on which the whole company relies upon. The new web based application should work in such a way that Reliable Pharmaceutical Service should start making profits once again. The web based application so developed should be such that the widespread network of Reliable Pharmaceutical Service should be precisely united. The business that is being carried forward with the existing old technologies should be completely replaced with the new web technology without any loss of data.

Leadership Value

Leadership has been a common term and everyone has his or her own understanding of its meaning. Most of the time we understood leadership on one’s strong character combined with charisma. But this understanding is faulty as leadership is not a sole function of individual charisma or talent but a collective activity. Gilbert Fairnholm defines leadership as an interactive function of a leader and several followers jointly engaged† (p. 8) which means that there is a collective effort in terms of value and trust enough to prove each one’s confidence in participating in collective activity. Value on the other hand derived its roots from French and English word courage or valor. In business world, value means worth thus according to Kim S. Cameron, â€Å"value creation is the objective of every enterprise, every worker, and every leader and all employees are judged by their ability to create value† (p. 4). Leadership value therefore could mean a collected courageous undertakings being inspired by the leader’s own courage or the worth of having a leader in a collective effort. The leadership Principles Joseph A. Heim pointed out five principles of leadership that should be implemented in order to have a â€Å"successful management of people and technology† (p. 161). The first principle, the people understands the vision. Heim explained that when people understands the vision or the larger task of an enterprise, and are given the right information, the resources, and the responsibility, they will do the right thing (p. 161). The second principle is empowerment of individual. Heim noted that empowered people—and of course with a good leadership–empowered groups will have not only the ability but also the desire to participate in the decision process. Heim explained that the level of involvement will enable and encourage the individual to make decision rather than adopt a passive or reactive attitude, waiting to be told what to do. The third principle is a comprehensive and effective communications network. Heim emphasized that this network should distribute knowledge and information widely; embracing the openness and trust that allow the individual to feel empowered to affect the real problems. The fourth is integrated enterprise, it is the result of â€Å"democratization and dissemination of information through the network† (p. 161) in all directions irrespective of organizational position. The result of these first four principles, which is distributed decision-making, is the fifth principle. Heim pointed out that â€Å"information freely shared with empowered people who are motivated to make decisions will naturally distribute the decision making process through the entire organization. Leadership and Values According to Jeswal Salacuse, â€Å"Leadership express a complex and at the same time flexible concept† (p. 19). Salacuse noted that the English word â€Å"leader† is derived from the old English laedan which means to show the way, to be ahead of   moving a group of people willing toward and objective. It therefore implies the existence of followers. Like leadership, everyone may have already basic idea of what values are. Dran, Gila M. Von, and Jennifer Cargill point out that Values â€Å"are broad general beliefs about the way people should behave, or about some end state they should attain† (p. 121). They explained that people form their values in the same way in which they develop their personality, thus values are conclusive beliefs individual develop gradually about what is true or right or good about their world. They pointed out â€Å"values come from the early conditioning, experience, and significant events in one’s life† (p. 121) and are the criteria for selecting actions, goals, and methods. Leadership Traits Pieter John Diederik Drenth, Henk Thiery, and Charles Johanes Wolff, pointed out that leadership traits â€Å"is founded on the assumption that leaders poses certain personal qualities, such as courage, intelligence, strength of character, vision, or charisma, which followers do not possess† (p. 326) But this assumption waned because according to Drent, Thiery, and Wolff, â€Å"it has proved impossible to find a single set of characteristic that enables a clear and reliable distinction to be drawn between†¦ leaders and followers† (p. 326). But recent study admits that certain characteristics are only important in certain circumstances such as in athletic or sports. Drent, Thiery and Wolff pointed out the studies conducted in 1981 by Bass which concludes that â€Å"Leadership as such is not a property of an individual’s personality, but there are nonetheless certain fixed personal characteristic that seem to play part in the exercise of leadership† (p. 326). Leadership Skill Like leadership and values, skill is a familiar term. Skill is the ability to do something well. Robert Eugene Lefton and Victor Buzzota identified four basic leadership skills that a leader needs. First, The sizing-up skills or the ability to observe what do in work situations as objectively as you can; Second, Communication skills or the ability to find out what others think and for getting your own ideas across, Third, Motivational skills or the ability to create an environment in which people do what they are capable of because they have a compelling reason to do so, and fourth, Adaptive skills or the ability to relate to people as a unique individual. Advance leadership skills Advance leadership skills according to William Christ, are â€Å"blends of knowledge, skill, and attitude and require greater levels of behavioral flexibility and adaptability† (p. 29). Below are some of the advance leadership scales that Christ delineated. (1) Manage and resolve conflicts effectively, (2) Develop messages that influence attitudes, beliefs, and actions, (3) Ability to demonstrate credibility and ability to manage multiple communications effectively, (4) Creative management skills, and (5) interpersonal skills. Leadership Behavior Leadership behavior according Manuel London is the result of perceiving situations, relating situational perceptions to accumulated knowledge, and then using scripts to guide the production of situationally appropriate behavior.   Studies on leadership behavior shows that exemplary leaders always balanced high task orientation and high person orientation, according to Gary Monroe Crow, Joseph Mathews, and Lloyed Mc Cleary, task orientation focused such behaviors as planning, monitoring and coordinating, while person-orientation focused on such behavior as informing of decisions and praising their accomplishment (p. 11). Assessing Leadership and measuring its Effect Assessing leadership according to Daniel Goleman , Rechard Boyatzis, and Annie Mckee can be done through a series of interviews   and observations by a professional executive coach. Goleman, Boyatzis, and McKee point out that a â€Å"typical process include conversations about the leaders career and life history, discussion of current managerial and leadership challenges, and discussion of the organizational-level issues as well as including things such as climate, politics, and system† (p. 228). Novick, Morrow, and Mays discussed measuring leadership effect.   According to them, one question that a leader should ask is, ‘How am I doing as a leader?’   They suggested that by using psychological assessment instruments can help measure leadership effect or effectiveness.   This instrument that help assess one’s self and appreciate the contribution of others is available in many forms. Work Cited Cameron, Kim S. Competing Values Leadership: Creating Value in Organization. Christ, William. Leadership in Times of Change: A Handbook for Communication and Media Administrators (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1998) Crow, Gary Monroe, et.al. Leadership: A Relevant and Realistic Role for Principals. (Eye on Education, Inc., 1996). Drenth, Pieter Johan Drederick, et.al., Organizational Psychology. (Psychology Press, 1998). Fairnholm, Gilbert W. Leadership and Culture of Trust. (Praeger/Greenwood, 1994). Heim, Joseph. Manufacturing Systems: Foundations of World Class Practice. (National Academies, 1992). Goleman Daniel, et.al. Primal Leadership: Learning to Lead. (Harvard Business School Press, 2004). Lefton, Robert Eugene and Buzzota, Victor. Leadership Through People Skills. (McGraw-Hill Professional, 2004). London, Manuel. How People Evaluate Others in Organization. (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2001). Novick, Lloyd, et.al. Public Health Administration: Principles for Population Based Management. (Jones and Bartlett, 2007) Salacuse, Jeswal W. Leading Leaders: How to Manage Smart, Talented, Rich, and Powerful People. (AMARCOM Div. American Management Association, 2006).            

Conflict Resolution Essay Example

Conflict Resolution Essay Example Conflict Resolution Essay Conflict Resolution Essay Conflict Resolution BY Drearn2212 Although individuals working in a team may share differences of opinion and ideas, anticipated or unanticipated problems can be resolved through conflict resolution. According to Austin E. Grigg (2004), conflict, in theories of personality, is usually considered a state of discomfort or stress caused by an individuals experiencing two or more desires or needs that are incompatible (1 1). Conflict, while uncomfortable and unavoidable, can bring positive results in a team environment. Often times the best result come from a conflict where individuals are able to voice their opinions nd make an argument on what direction they would like to see a learning team go. This allows individuals to give their information and take in anothers information. Based on a group decision, all materials are deciphered and the best chosen for a group. Constructive group conflict has many positive outcomes. Issues and people are better understood through an open exchange. The quality of decision making improves as opposing viewpoints and concerns are discussed. Expressing differences constructively can make a group discussion more interesting and promote participation. (documentation learning kit) People in a learning group need to nderstand that arguing statements do not necessarily mean negative conflict. If you have a group that is willing to work as a team, then naturally all persons involved will want the best possible solution to a problem. There is always the case though of intent by an individual to sabbotage a project or integrity of the learning team. This can cause misunderstanding and mistrust to the learning group and disrupt efforts to complete tasks undertaken. Therefore, there are tools that can be used within the group to help resolve this type of conflict. Communication is an extremely valuable tool we all use on a daily basis. Whether its reading, writing, listening, or speaking; without communication we wouldnt be able to get by. This is why communication is so important, more so when it comes to working in teams. We need to be able to use all forms of communication so there is always that understanding. If theres one thing thats avoidable, its lack of communication. Listening is a valuable communication skill. Listen with the intent to understand. Try not to only focus on what you want to say, but objectively listen to what your team member is saying. If you want him/her to listen to you, you need to listen Just as well. Pay attention and focus energy on the words that are being said. Give that person the same respect they give you. Effective listening is also incredibly important. According to Steven R. Covey, empathetic listening gets inside another persons frame of reference The essence of empathic listening is not that you agree with someone; its that you Tully, deeply, unaerstana tnat person. (2 10 practlce your erective llstenlng sKllls, put yourself in a situation where you have to prove you are listening, said Stephen D. Boyd. Listen as close as possible to what your teammates may suggest. You may ot always agree, but youll send out the message that youre taking into conside ration whats being said. Attentive listening allows your team members to feel that you care about what they say. Let your team and team members know youre interested in what they are talking about. It will assure them that you were listening and have absorbed what was said. Ask questions if necessary, this will help clear things up that may have been misconstrued . You never know, another one of your team mates may have been wondering the same thing. Also, when talking (no matter who youre talking to) one of the most important lements of communication is eye contact. You should always look the person in the eye when he/she is talking. Youre showing them that they have your undivided attention. Its not a good thing when a team mate, co-worker, friend, supervisor etc. s talking to you and youre doing other things such as writing, filing, crunching numbers on a calculator or other things like that. You want them to know that youre focusing all your attention on them and nothing or no one else. When someone is talking or explaining something to you, especially in a group or team environment, you should remain quiet. This allows you to practice aggressive silence. As difficult as it may be for you to remain quiet, this is telling the person providing the information that you are listening and do not intend to interrupt. Once the person speaking is finished, then you may get clarification or ask questions if needed. Cooperative communication is another valuable asset to a learning group. All members should contribute our thoughts and ideas to our group. Youd be amazed what you can come up with when you put your heads together. We should all learn to take in and utilize others input Just the way we present ours. When working with your co-workers, in a team, or with a group of individuals we have what you call combined communication. This is when we are all sharing our message with each other and have a multiple of opinions on the table. Whats so great about this is we have so much we can discuss and make use of. Since we all have different ways of looking at things, we have so much more to talk about. As for responsibility sharing, we are all obligated, when working together, to share the workload. It wouldnt be fair if some worked on a project more than others. We should all have an equal amount of responsibility. There are some individuals who are able to get the project or assignment done in a short amount of time. When this happens, he or she may want to go back to that group or team and see if anyone needs help with anything. Working in a team and or group of students / co-workers has its advantages, and one of those advantages is the fact that we have a pile of unified thoughts and ideas. What makes this a great advantage is, once you have all agreed on something, its easier to go from there. You should always be on the same page as your group or team. Constructive vs. destructive criticism has both Its advantages ana Olsaavantages as well. You nave Dotn nelpTul ana useTul information and bad not so good info as well. This is where conflict in a team usually arises. I think you should hear each other out and come toa conclusion the whole team agrees on. Conflict can be a healthy incentive for teams. If approached with the perspective of opening ones mind to approach the project openly, it is an excellent stimulus. Too often, conflicts take place that create negative responses and it can make the other individuals want to avoid the situation. According to (Sheila Porter, J. D. IJOP, pg 1, 2003), when various people project the utcome of a situation, and it isnt clarified, it could become a closed environment. Conflict will happen due to different perspectives. It is up to the individuals to decide how it will be managed. When is conflict healthy and when is it unhealthy? Its healthy, when it stimulates the individuals to create mind maps with the subject. With these mind maps it could enable team members to build and develop processes and thoughts that would create excellent results. It is negative, when the situation becomes a closed session and individuals are left completely frustrated and are unable to see any positive outcome. How can conflict be managed: There is an analysis called the 4RS Method (Engleberg, Wynn, Schuttler, pl 54, 2003). Reasons Why is there a conflict Reactions Why are you responding to it in this manner Results What is the outcome if we dont work this out Resolution What should we do to find a solution After we perform the analysis and we are able to identify what the problem is, there are ways that it can be approached. Terrence Wheeler of the Ohio Commission on Dispute Resolution, and Conflict Management, ou tlined five main types of conflict management styles: 1) co-operative problem -solving, 2) competing, 3) avoiding, 4) ccommodating and 4) compromising. Ralph H. Kilmann and Kenneth W. Thomas, authors of the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument has also identified five general principles: 1) avoidance, 2) accommodating, 3) competition, 4) compromise, and 5) collaboration. In reviewing these principles, you are able to note, that these principles are derived from research and study on what approaches should be utilized for a team to resolve negative conflicts. Each of these principles have guidelines and could be utilized to ascertain a solution toa conflict. Each situation is original and therefore the outcome will be decided after careful review and ollaborative efforts. Problem Structuring James Corner, John Buchanan, Mordecai Henig, Journal of Multicriteria Decision Analysis, indicates that problems structuring is obtained from various views and approaches. There is a distinct and clear synopsis that the approach that is utilized has to have specific measurements and outcomes. This approach endeavours to Dr10ge tne gap Detween prescrlptlve ana aescrlptlve aeclslon proDlem structuring. Decision Support In most organizations, there are rules in place to deal with conflict. According to David K Pruitt, Law and Order, losing experienced and productive employee are not n option. They have a facilitator work with developing the methods and getting the individuals to focus. If there is no one managing this process, it can reduce productivity and minimize collaborative relationships. If the team cannot reach a decision after thorough evaluation and review, and the situation is critical, someone will be assigned to make some decisions. This can proceed with them reviewing all the data and bringing the team together to give them additional information to process. This process can have the ability to reenergize the teams. You have assisted them to formulate a decision. It can also proceed with the facilitator taking the dictator in order to resolve the issue. When differences arise in a team, a resolution must be reached in order for the team to reach its objective. There are many different ways for a resolution to be reached. There is the Mediation process, which can be broken down into five steps. According to Ray Gaitan and Brian H Kleiner in Equal Opportunities International those steps are as follows: The Mediator opening statement, the disputants opening statement, the discussion stage, the caucus, and reaching the agreement. This Process is more of a formal way to solve a conflict. This is used for lawsuits and contract negotiations. The other, less formal ways of solving a conflict, is to listen to one anothers problems and put yourself in their situation. To find a common ground will help you resolve the problem a lot faster. In order to facilitate this it is a good idea to right down what the parties do agree on. Then the focus should shift to the differences. This will help the team find out the origin of the problems. Finding the origin of the conflict makes it easier to fgure out options for resolution. An example is: Team member a has a problem with team member c over how they should ake a presentation. Team member a wants it to be an informative speech, while team member c wants it to be a lecture where the audience interacts with the speaker. They must find common ground and solve their differences or go their different ways. How a conflict is handled can make or break a team. If neither team member is willing to give something up, then both sides will fail. It is also possible for one team member to have more leverage on the table and maneuver the resolution in their favor. This can be a dangerous tactic to use because the loosing party will almost certainly resent the other party and performance will suffer. And in rare instances both parties may achieve their goals. This is why it is important that negotiations be concluded only when both parties have a sense that they have accomplished something. In 10 steps for managing conflict in your HR Dept by Human resource Department report It states tnat unresolved conTllcts would cause personality contest involving threats, intimidation, and blame for past actions. A personality contest involving threats would be where one party is nice to another party in order to sway their support and threatened the other party with removing them or themselves from the project. Intimidation, s when you use some leverage you have to overwhelm the other party. Blaming people for past actions is what politicians live for. Every one has made mistakes in the past and to bring them out into the light makes one party seem more credible than the other. This report also states that there are no real grown-ups. That is why most adults in conflict behave no better t han a five-year-old fighting over an ice cream. References Institute of Management Administration, 10 steps for managing Conflict in Your HR dept Human Resource Department, Management report: 1, 11-12, Septmber 2000. ISSN:1092-5910 March 21 2004

An Introduction to Literary Nonfiction

An Introduction to Literary Nonfiction Literary nonfiction is a type of prose that employs the literary techniques usually associated with fiction or poetry to report on persons, places, and events in the real world without altering facts. The genre of literary nonfiction, also known as creative nonfiction, is broad enough to include travel writing, nature writing, science writing, sports writing, biography, autobiography, memoir,interviews, and familiar and personal essays. Literary nonfiction is alive and well, but it is not without its critics. Examples Here are several examples of literary nonfiction from noted authors: The Cries of London, by Joseph AddisonDeath of a Soldier, by Louisa May AlcottA Glorious Resurrection, by Frederick DouglassThe San Francisco Earthquake, by Jack LondonThe Watercress Girl, by Henry Mayhew Observations The word literary masks all kinds of ideological concerns, all kinds of values, and is finally more a way of looking at a text, a way of reading...than an inherent property of a text.(Chris Anderson, Introduction: Literary Nonfiction and Composition in Literary Nonfiction: Theory, Criticism, Pedagogy)Fictional Devices in Literary NonfictionOne of the profound changes to have affected serious writing in recent years has been the spread of fiction and poetry techniques into literary nonfiction: the show, don’t tell requirement, the emphasis on concrete sensory detail and avoidance of abstraction, the use of recurrent imagery as symbolic motif, the taste for the present tense, even the employment of unreliable narrators. There has always been some crossover between the genres. I am no genre purist, and welcome the cross-pollination, and have dialogue scenes in my own personal essays (as did Addison and Steele). But it is one thing to accept using dialogue scenes or lyrical imager y in a personal narrative, and quite another to insist that every part of that narrative be rendered in scenes or concrete sensory descriptions. A previous workshop teacher had told one of my students, Creative non-fiction is the application of fictional devices to memory. With such narrow formulae, indifferent to nonfictions full range of options, is it any wonder that students have started to shy away from making analytical distinctions or writing reflective commentary?(Phillip Lopate, To Show and to Tell: The Craft of Literary Nonfiction) Practical Nonfiction vs. Literary NonfictionPractical nonfiction is designed to communicate information in circumstances where the quality of the writing is not considered as important as the content. Practical nonfiction appears mainly in popular magazines, newspaper Sunday supplements, feature articles, and in self-help and how-to books...Literary nonfiction puts emphasis on the precise and skilled use of words and tone, and the assumption that the reader is as intelligent as the writer. While information is included, insight about that information, presented with some originality, may predominate. Sometimes the subject of literary nonfiction may not at the onset be of great interest to the reader, but the character of the writing may lure the reader into that subject.Literary nonfiction appears in books, in some general magazines such as The New Yorker, Harpers, the Atlantic, Commentary, the New York Review of Books, in many so-called little or small-circulation magazines, in a fe w newspapers regularly and in some other newspapers from time to time, occasionally in a Sunday supplement, and in book review media.(Sol Stein, Stein on Writing: A Master Editor of Some of the Most Successful Writers of Our Century Shares His Craft Techniques and Strategies) Literary Nonfiction in the English DepartmentIt might be the case that composition studies...needs the category of literary nonfiction to assert its place in the hierarchy of discourse comprising the modern English department. As English departments became increasingly centered on the interpretation of texts, it became increasingly important for compositionists to identify texts of their own.(Douglas Hesse, The Recent Rise of Literary Nonfiction: A Cautionary Assay in Composition Theory for the Postmodern Classroom)Whether critics are arguing about contemporary American nonfiction for historical or theoretical purposes, one of the primary (overt and usually stated) aims is to persuade other critics to take literary nonfiction seriously- to grant it the status of poetry, drama, and fiction.(Mark Christopher Allister, Refiguring the Map of Sorrow: Nature Writing and Autobiography)