Blog

MUST BE GOOD1. In November of 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, a committee invited President Abraham Lincoln to give a “few appropriate remarks” at the dedication of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg. The famed battle of Gettysburg had been fought the previousin July, with the North defeating the South in a three-day clash that left tens of thousands of soldiers — from both the Union and the Confederacy — dead and wounded. In January of that same year, Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation, adding an additional purpose to the war: to eradicate slavery.Read Lincoln’s speech carefully. Then, in a well-developed essay, analyze the rhetorical techniques he uses to achieve his purpose.FOUR SCORE and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate — we cannot consecrate — we cannot hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.2. Employers often run what’s called a “background check” to find out more information about a prospective employee. Background checks usually include details about a person’s criminal, legal, and credit history, previous addresses and employers, education, and possibly driving records. However, background checks cannot be run without the candidate’s approval.Though the practice of running a background check before a hire is becoming more and more common, many people believe it is a violation of privacy. Employers believe it is essential to ensure the veracity of résumés and to weed out untrustworthy candidates.In a well-developed essay, take a position on the issue of employers running background checks. Support your position with appropriate evidence from your readings, experience, or observations. 3. As the world becomes more technologically savvy, social media platforms become increasingly important and influential in the political realm.Carefully read the following five sources. Then, synthesize the information from at least three of the sources and incorporate it into a coherent, well-developed essay that recommends a course of action for politicians who are reluctant to join the social media bandwagon.Your argument should be the focus of your essay. Use the sources to develop your argument and explain the reasoning for it. Avoid merely summarizing the sources. Indicate clearly which sources you are drawing from, whether through direct quotation, paraphrase, or summary. You may cite the sources as Source A, Source B, etc., or by using the descriptions in parentheses.Source A (Holcomb)Source B (“The Social Media Election”)Source C (Rehr)Source D (Chao)Source E (Cartoon)Source AJesse Holcomb, Jeffrey Gottfried, and Amy Mitchell, “News Use Across Social Media Platforms,” November 14, 2013, Pew Research Journalism Project, Pew Research Center, londonessays.com MethodologyThis report is based on a Pew Research Center survey conducted Aug. 21-Sept. 2, 2013, among a nationally representative sample of adults 18 years of age or older. The sample included 5,173 respondents. The survey questionnaire was written by the Pew Research Center and administered by GfK using KnowledgePanel, its nationally representative online research panel.For questions asked of the full sample of 5,173, the margin of sampling error is plus or minus 1.7 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. The following table describes the sample sizes for users and news consumers on each social networking website included in the study, as well as the margins of error for each.Source B”The Social Media Election,” Infographic, Vertical Measures, londonessays.com Source CDavid K. Rehr, “Social Media’s Impact on the Presidential Election,” January 18, 2013, The Huffington Post, londonessays.com research, released by ORI, a market research and strategic business intelligence firm, and The George Washington Graduate School of Political Management, offers key insights for politics, business and non-profits in their study, “The 2012 Social Media Election Survey: Key Lessons to Inform Decision-Making in Politics & Business.” The survey was conducted between October 29 – November 13. 806 individuals participated in the survey nationwide, providing a margin of error of +/- 3.45 percent.The objective of the research was to understand:How closely the public was watching the election;The value placed on various sources of information about the candidates and the issues in the election;How the public was using social media to learn about and engage in discussions about the election;How people shared their political opinions on social media;Demographic differences in perception and behavior.You can see the entire research deck by going to: londonessays.com…Here are just some of the top line results:Overall, 29 percent said social media was moderately to extremely influential in their opinions of the candidates and issues.Nearly two-thirds (63 percent) said the quality of information about the candidates and issues on social media was the same or better than that from traditional media.Approximately 40 percent participated in a political discus

sion with others in their social networks and 28 percent said they displayed their political affiliation on their networks.Overall political engagement and participated showed: 25 percent donated money to a candidate or political party; 23 percent connected through social media; 13 percent subscribed to online news.Of those engaged or involved, 77 percent made political contributions online and/or through a website. 19 percent made a contribution through Facebook.47 percent learned about policy issues from cable TV; 42 percent from broadcast news channels; 36% from public television, including C-SPAN and PBS.72 percent do not display their party affiliation on social media;19 percent defriend, block, or hide a connection because of their political views — with liberals less tolerant of other views than conservatives.The insights contained in this research again demonstrate how social media is changing how we obtain and connect with information and interact as citizens.Source DRebecca Chao, “How Much Influence Did Social Media Have on India’s Election?” May 21, 2014, TechPresident, londonessays.com 2014 election is being called a #TwitterElection because it is the largest democratic election in the world to date and so much of it took place online. While there seems to be a number of correlations between the online activities and victories of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which swept up 427 seats in India’s Lok Sabha or lower parliament, and of Narendra Modi, India’s new prime minister, just how much of their success can be attributed to their social media savviness? Trying to answer the question of whether a like or a tweet can lead to a vote or whether social media is simply a mirror of public sentiment is a tricky question since it’s probably a bit of both. The following is an analysis of how social media data fell in line with election results and in some cases, how it did not.Young, More Connected IndiaWhile online election activity saw a dramatic increase from years prior, the country saw a number of other important election firsts: 150 million between the ages of 18-23 were newly eligible to vote, two out of three people in India are under the age of 35, and there was an unprecedented voter turnout at 66.4 percent (compared to 57.5 percent in the 2012 U.S. elections).India’s Internet penetration rate, according to Internet Live Stats, also grew an unprecedented 14 percent from last year and is currently estimated to be at 243 million or roughly 19 percent of India’s population.However, while social media usage has increased, India dropped nine rankings to 140 out of 179 in the 2013 Press Freedom Index. Reporters Without Borders writes that India is at its lowest ranking since 2002. With the rise in Internet adoption rates, and a lack of strong media, both politicians seeking to demonstrate a commitment to transparency and users who mistrust traditional news channels might instead choose to express themselves on social media.The “Crowd Puller” Online and OffModi has been an avid social media user for some time now and perhaps this earlier start may have given him a better competitive edge even if some of the other candidates and parties demonstrated a fairly strong online presence during the campaign and election period.In 2012, when Modi was the Gujarat chief minister, he made a name for himself as the first Indian politician to engage with citizens on social media, according to the Times of India. He held a Google Hangout on August 30th that year to answer a variety of questions about but his state agenda but not about contentious political issues. #ModiHangout became a top trending topic in the country and the hangout itself became so popular it took 45 minutes to begin because the site kept crashing. But Modi maintains this prowess offline as well where he is known as the “crowd puller” for his ability to draw large numbers to his rallies.Rather than use mainstream media, Modi announced his win via Twitter @narendramodi to his 4.27 million fans and encouraged voters to tweet their “fingies” or “ungli” in Hindi with the hashtag #selfiewithmodi. (. . .)Twitter writes in its blog, albeit with a nice pat on its back:To put this in perspective, in the 2009 elections, there was just a single active politician with 6,000 Twitter followers. This Lok Sabha Election, Twitter became the medium of choice for people to engage in and consume political content. Take any metric: original content generated, engagement by political leaders, user engagement with content, news breaks, influence on political discourse or capacity to set media agenda — it happened on Twitter.
Facebook also saw a significant amount of online election activity. Katie Harbath, the Global Politics and Government Outreach Manager at Facebook, wrote in an e-mail to techPresident:From the day elections were announced to the day polling ended, 29 million people in India made 227 million interactions (posts, comments, shares, and likes) regarding the Indian Elections on Facebook. In addition, 13 million people made 75 million interactions regarding Narendra Modi.Facebook adapted its megaphone “I’m a voter” app for India, a tool which reminds users to vote; 4.1 million people in India used it over the course of the election period. As Miranda Neubauer wrote today in techPresident, the app appears to have some sway in getting people to the polls: “A study published in Nature found that in 2010, 340,000 additional people voted after seeing the notification about their friends voting in their newsfeed, and in 2012 over 9 million people said they voted, amounting to 8.6 percent of the U.S. Facebook population.”Modi was among the most popular candidate according to Facebook with the following breakdown of stats: Narendra Modi has a total of 14.3 million fans, Arvind Kejriwal with 5.4 million and Rahul Gandhi’s unverified account sporting only a measly 359,300.Source EJimmy Margulies, “Cory Booker Elected to Senate,” October 18, 2013, The Record of Hackensack, NJ, londonessays.com © 2018 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning’s Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited. Apex Learning ® and the Apex Learning Logo are registered trademarks of Apex Learning Inc. Advanced Placement and AP are registered trademarks of the College Board.