Role Of Research In The Education an Example of the Topic Government and Law Essays by

Role Of Research In The Education INTRODUCTION The educational section sector is dynamic and ever changing and calls for constant review of its contents so as to meet the market needs that are evolving with the lasted technologies. Educational researches thus come in to fill this gap by connecting the school with the market and placing different educational concepts at different learners levels according to the students abilities. The researchers main aim is to acquire dependable and useful information about the education process that is directed towards the development of an organized body of scientific knowledge about events with which education are concerned. Need essay sample on "Role Of Research In The Education" topic? We will write a custom essay sample specifically for you Proceed Students Often Tell EssayLab professionals: How much do I have to pay someone to make my assignment now? Essay writer professionals suggest: Winning Academic Essay Writing Delivered On Time Essay Company Cheap Essay Writing Custom Essay Order Write My Essay Online Reviews Researchers are interested in finding solutions and communicating their results, the process involves explaining anomalies or contradictions, or providing decision makers with information that assists them to resolve their problems. The argument focuses on providing an explanation that clarifies the situation, and that is supported by relevant evidence, and appropriate qualifications and should be substantive, contestable, and explicit so that the reader can assess their usefulness in resolving problems. It should be accurate, precise, representative, sufficient, reliable, logical and easily understood (Shkedi, A, 1998,). Its goal is to develop a reflexive understanding of the context in which researcher find they are able to explain predict and even control events in educational situations and even make and justify claims. (Borg, Walter R. and Meredith 1989). Educational research is a tool in making sound educational decisions, this point of view assumes that there should be an immediate and observable influence of research finding upon schooling and that the research work should assist in making teaching and learning more predictable, economic and effective (Hagerty, S., & Evans, P. 1985). This researches have become more perceive as policy makers search for the best way to certify teaches, implement master teaching programs and develop teaches evaluation schemes . Educational research evaluations usually focus on needs analyses, cost-benefit analyses, and the formative or summative evaluation of educational products and programs, an educational evaluation consists of more than just the collection of research data. The evaluation can as well include analyzing the goals of a program or the needs of a system, assessing the resources available for the program and the contexts of the program, determining the criteria or standards according to which decisions will be made, and interpreting the results after data have been collected. Any relevant research work contributes an important concept and provides a necessary piece of the argument that explains and justifies this study, or both, study is relevant if failing to discuss it would create a significant gap in this explanation or justification, leave unanswered an important question that a reader of the work might raise, or miss a potentially valuable contribution to the research. Research has influenced education in three main ways: the main influence being on the development of that best suite individual students needs and expectations. Research has also provided conception of the nature of the human learner that has been incorporated into philosophies of education, and finally it has provided a way of solving persistent educational problems. Teachers do research every day thus making their lives much easier without vitiating the concept of research, the important components of research are activities teachers can do while teaching through employing appropriate strategies of educational research. Empirical educational research helps improve decision making and planning of education. Research is sometimes used to satisfy individual curiosity or to spell out rumors about the negative effects of a program or an institution .For example, a government that has introduced a new program in its education system may look for empirical research to establish the popularity or unpopularity of the program among parents, learners and teachers. Should the findings of the research find the program is unpopular, it can then be withdrawal for the education system altogether (Buchanan, N. K., & Feldhusen, J. F. 1991). Much educational research is conducted to identify and analyze interventions to improve learning and students achievements in school and this assists the teachers effectively meet the students educational needs. The purpose of applied research is to solve an immediate practical problem in education, this implies that applied research is concerned with the improvement of actual practice .For example studying man failure in an educational system helps to identify the cause of the problem and how it can be solved .Curriculum developers, national examinations councils, teachers and even learners will be able to work towards the improvement of academic performance basing their action on the research findings (Fapka, J. G. 1982). Research assigns highest priority in reviewing educational articles to rigorous original quantitative, qualitative or mixed methods studies on topics relating to applications of technology or instructional design in educational settings such as analytical papers that evaluate important research issues related to educational technology research and reviews of the literature on similar topics are also published. Teachers have always hoped that research would provide them with a repertoire of single techniques to enable them cope with daily problems yet no specific problem solving technique has emerged though research has provided broad general principles and aided curriculum developers to produce more useful materials(Hagerty, S., & Evans, P. 1985). The teacher wants simple approaches for handling problems such as; what does one do if a child does not concentrate in classroom, how does one deal with a child who is hostile to the school and everything in it, what to do with a child who does not understand long divisions even though they have had several sessions trying to explain it?, it is for this reason that teaches expect educational research to explicitly provide answers to such problems and many others. When specific answers are not forthcoming to their questions, teachers are likely to conclude that educational research is worthless, and the capability of research to provide such answers is now examined (Fapka, J. G. 1982). The failure of students to concentrate on a task may be due to lack of interest in the task. A more unusual reason may be the childs inability to focus on materials close to his or her eyes for a few minutes. Numerous other reasons may also exist for example the child may be hyperactive, the child may have strong social needs or prefer to relate to other childrens rather than to an individual task. Educational research thus should look for answers to the childs problem but even if an answer is found, there is the matter of how to handle the child which educational research should provide. Educators should make decisions with basing them on the findings of educational research, a teacher or instructional designer who believes in and employs one method for teaching remedial reading should not necessarily abandon that method when an article in a journal proclaims that another method better off. Educational research helps in shaping teachers knowledge base and consequent actions by using their existing knowledge base linking it with the latest research findings to ensure effective teaching outcomes. This makes educational research and professional practice are mutually interdependent. The teacher extracts meaning from research and combines this with existing knowledge to affect practice; the effects of initial teacher education appear to remain influential well into a teachers career, access to and active mediation of research and its interpretive forms is seen as being a powerful source of knowledge and practical ideas and teachers should be include and involved in research and researchers in teaching (Shkedi, A, 1998,). To a teacher educational research is generally a problem oriented activity that is aimed at improving conditions or solving problems in education .Good research should perform this function by providing knowledge about education .The new knowledge is then applied to the improvement of educational practices for example a mere description of how students are taught a subject can help to improve not only the teaching but also the curriculum design and student performance. Although educational research is supposed to be seen as a diagnostic and evaluation process, serving to facilitate educational reforms and development, it is much more difficult to determine whether the numerous and varied research findings in a country or region have made any impact on the practice of education, this is because many factors influence educational practice. The sad thing about educational research objectives in education is that many teachers and administrators know little about neither how the research is obtained nor how to read the results that are presented, there is even a prevailing attitude that educational research is not practical to real word teaching. Teaching methods and curriculum policies are now being scrutinized for evidence based research, though administrators and policy makers are currently appreciating the role and important of research( Wiersma, Williams.1994 ). Teachers and administrators in the education field have realized that creating productive educational systems based on individual and group creativity is slowly starting to meet its potential. Data obtained from qualitative and quantitative research can benefit if its positive results are realized and applied in a real educational setting. Qualitative research is useful to the educational research in several ways .It helps the educational researcher to obtain in-depth data both within a outside the school .Data from within the school can help discover the internal dynamics of the teaching learning process and the hidden curriculum that remains invisible in qualitative type research (Buchanan, N. K., & Feldhusen, J. F. (1991). The most beneficial contribution of this research to education has been drawing attention to the construction of school success and failure through daily classroom interaction between teachers and pupils. In conclusion educational research is a systematic process that addresses educational issues and phenomena. The method researcher uses to investigate educational questions range from surveys to observations and the experimental methods depend upon the problem at hand and the purpose of the research to be conducted. Educational research is not the only endeavor in which the professional educator must engage there are many problems that must be resolved through recourse to strategies other than research. Decisions made are likely to be concerned about such issues as the right to privacy, personal ethical convictions, the dangers of overpopulation and sexually transmitted diseases, political philosophies, and the nature of the social contract between the individual and the state as it applies to the educational setting. Strengthening research capacity in education and the dissemination and utilization of research results at all levels and among policy makers is of crucial importance to the development of educational research which is an expensive exercise and needs total support from all education stake holders so as to arrive at the intended educational goals. Reference: Borg, Walter R. and Meredith (1989), Educational Research: An introduction .5th Edition, New York: Longman. Majchrzack, Ann (1984), Methods for policy Research .Beverly Hills, Carifornia. Wiersma, Williams. (1994).Research Methods in Education: An introduction .Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Buchanan, N. K., & Feldhusen, J. F. (1991). Conducting research and evaluation in gifted education: A handbook of methods and applications. New York: Teachers College Press. Hagerty, S., & Evans, P. (1985). Research and evaluation methods in special education: Quantitative and qualitative techniques in case study work. Philadelphia: NFER-Nelson. Smith, M. L. (1987). Research and evaluation in education and the social sciences. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Fapka, J. G. (1982). Research and evaluation in health education. Oakland, CA: Third Party Publishing Company. Cohen and Marion 1989 Research Methods in Education.London; Routledge. Flander, N.A.1985 Analyzing Teaching Behavior.Massachusettes: Addison. Shkedi, A, 1998, Teachers attitudes towards research: A challenge for qualitative researchers, Qualitative Studies in Education. Australia.

Trace Evidence Essays - Forensic Evidence, Forensics, Trace Evidence

Trace Evidence Essays - Forensic Evidence, Forensics, Trace Evidence Trace Evidence Trace evidence is very important in forensic investigations. This category of evidence encompasses many diverse types of microscopic materials as well as some examples that are easily visible to the naked eye. The subject is broad and diverse because of the number of different types of evidence that are commonly encountered. Trace evidence can be thought of as evidence occuring in sizes so small that it can be transferred or exchanged between two surfaces without being noticed. Varieties of trace evidence can include, but are not limited to: metal filings, glass fragments, feathers, food stains, building materials, lubricants, fingernail scrapings, pollens and spores, cosmetics, plastic fragments, gunshot residue, chemicals, paper fibers and sawdust, human and animal hairs, plant and vegetable fibers, blood and other body fluids, asphalt or tar, vegetable fats and oils, dusts and other airborne particles, insulation, textile fibers, soot, soils and mineral grains, and e! xplosive residues. Forensic scientists routinely come into contact with a relatively few number of these. They are: hair, glass, paint, fibers, fingerprints, and flamable liquids. These will be covered more in-depth in this paper. Edmond Locard, a French scientist and one of the early pioneers in forensic science believed strongly that individuals could not enter an area without taking dust particles with them from the scene. This became known as what is now called "Locard's Exchange Principle." This principle states that when two objects come into contact with each other, each of the objects will leave particles of one on the other. It is this principle that is the foundation of the forensic study of trace evidence. Trace evidence examination is the examination and analysis of small particles in order to help establish a link between a suspect and a crime scene or a suspect and the victim of a crime. These small particles usually include such items as hair, paint, glass, and fibers. Although not considered "trace" items by definition the many Crime Labs also examine and analyze such important evidence as flammables (in arson investigations), fingerprints, footwear (shoeprints), and "fracture matches." Many also perform examinations of automobile headlamps, taillights and speedometers. The first category of trace evidence I will discuss is hair. Hair is examined grossly (with the naked eye), and with both low power and high power microscopes to determine if questioned hairs, found at the scene or on the clothing of an individual are consistent in characteristics to known hair collected from the suspect and/or victim. Some of these characteristics include more obvious traits such as color, length, and morphological shape and also microscopic aspects of the cuticle, cortex and medulla, which are the three basic components of a hair. A hair cannot be linked specifically to an individual through these methods but vital information developed as to who the suspect may be and significant elimination of other suspects can often be done. It is possible to tell the race, sex, and region of the body that a hair comes from. A relative idea as to the time since the last haircut can also be made. The second type of trace evidence is glass. When larger samples are available glass can be useful in linking a suspect with the crime scene through "fracture matches". This is when a larger piece of glass, found associated with the suspect, can be physically fitted with one or more pieces from the crime scene. More often when an individual gains access to a business or dwelling by breaking glass the perpetrator will acquire very tiny pieces of glass on his/her clothing. These cannot be physically matched due to their tiny size. However, these pieces, though smaller than a pinhead, can be characterized under the microscope. After proper gross and low power microscopic examinations are performed the Forensic Scientists use microscopic "refractive index" determination to further characterize the samples. Refractive index is a measurement of how light is "refracted" (bent) as it passes through the microscopic glass sample. Glasses having different formulations and used for differe! nt purposes have different RI's. Therefore samples can be compared to determine if the glass from the crime scene could be the source of the glass removed from the suspect's clothes. The third type of trace evidence is paint. When perpetrators break into businesses

How to win more work with your bids and tenders

How to win more work with your bids and tenders 9 ways to win more work with your bids and tenders In sport, there’s often a fine line between being hailed as the champ or dubbed an also-ran. For every Olympic 10,000m gold medallist there were probably dozens of potential champions. But no matter. Whoever crosses the line first, even by a fraction of a second, takes the spoils. Coming out on top is often about good preparation and the little things your competitors failed to take into account. It’s the same when bidding for work. And you probably know from experience that the competition to edge ahead can be as fierce there as on the race track. So here are nine ways you can get your nose in front to consistently be the champ, and not end up an also-ran chump. 1. Write fewer bids Ironically, it’s sometimes easier to win more work by focusing your energies on fewer bids and tenders. Alarm bells should be ringing if you find yourself winging it when answering half a dozen key questions in an invitation to tender (ITT) or pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ). Newcomers, especially, can be tempted to bid for contracts that don’t actually suit their capabilities. So concentrate on the bids and tenders where you are most likely to succeed. 2. Get under their skin †¦ †¦ in a good way, of course. When you do identify a suitable opportunity, ask yourself this crucial question: how can I find out what the potential client really wants? Sometimes it’s obvious. A good ITT will make their priorities clear from the outset. Sadly, the reality is that most are poorly written. For example, you may need to read carefully to spot key needs that aren’t even mentioned in a list of ‘essential requirements’. In any case, always broaden your research beyond the ITT to get the bigger picture of what matters to them right now. Check out their website, news stories about them and blog posts by the CEO. And if you are looking to renew ongoing business with a customer, speak to your sales team or client relationship managers. They’re best placed to give you crucial insights into the challenges the client faces, or their preferred method of working. 3. Put your win themes in the spotlight Once you understand your potential client, focus on the factors most likely to win you their business – your ‘win themes’. For example, your prospect might be an eco-friendly organic food producer looking for a supplier of cardboard packaging. Your win theme here may be that you source all your cardboard products via certified sustainable forest management. Use every relevant opportunity to drive home that message, such as in the executive summary, case studies and even in project team CVs. It’s vital to back up win themes with facts, though. In the case above, this might be how many trees you’ve had planted, or how you helped another client achieve their carbon emissions target six months early. 4. Remember it’s not about you Win themes are firmly focused on the client’s needs. And your entire bid or tender should be, too. It’s easy to come out all guns blazing, singing the praises of your own organisation – but doing thats likely to just alienate the reader. Far better to make it clear, early on, that you understand their issues and needs. And when referring to the features of your product or service, make clear the benefits for that particular client at the same time. So, avoid the old-school, in-your-face sales pitch approach. And adopting the right tone can be crucially important in other ways, too. 5. Keep it positive A delegate on one of our bid-writing courses couldn’t understand why so many of their submissions for event-management contracts met with only a lukewarm response, and ultimately a rejection. He told us: ‘We know we can match our competitors on price. We have masses of experience, too, and plenty of good case studies to back us up.’ A review of their ITT responses revealed the root of the problem – a worryingly negative vibe. Statements such as ‘We believe we can deliver the contract to a satisfactory standard’ were unlikely to inspire confidence. Better to use positive phrases such as ‘We will ensure that †¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ and a stronger adjective than a mere satisfactory. Likewise, they referred to ‘trying to’ or ‘aiming to’ achieve goals, rather than saying there were ‘confident’ of doing so. And when describing a prospective client, avoid being overly deferential in a way that is likely to make them cringe (‘We would be honoured to build a relationship with your prestigious research establishment ’). It can sound like you feel lucky to even be in with a chance of working with them. They’re going to be putting their trust in you. So its far better to position yourself as an equal or high-level adviser. Remember, too, that referring to competitors is generally frowned upon in bid writing as much as in other areas of sales, and with good reason. For one thing, your response should be strong enough to sell itself, without taking potshots at the opposition. (Plus, do you really want to give over valuable space in your bid to name-checking alternative suppliers?) 6. Favour simple over waffle It can be tempting to include everything you can think of when responding to a question in an ITT, in the vain hope that your singularly comprehensive answer will impress the reader. That’s rarely the best idea. Let’s look at two potential responses from a reader’s point of view. Question: ‘What are your proposed delivery timescales?’ Answer 1: ‘Four months.’ Answer 2: ‘Given the emphasis you have placed on achieving your ambitions within a relatively short timeframe, we have carried out an in-depth assessment of the global effects of leveraging the synergies we can achieve through our involvement in this project. This substantive evaluation has given us the confidence to predict a delivery period of 16 weeks, in line with your expectations.’ The first answer is straightforward and its lack of waffle makes the writer sound more confident. Only give detail that’s helpful to the reader, using clear, concise language that avoids unnecessary jargon. Remember, though, that it can sometimes help to mirror some of the language the prospective client appears comfortable with – they may refer to ‘service users’ rather than ‘customers’, for example. In which case, you should too. 7. Help them to help you Where the bidding process allows it, do communicate with prospective clients. It can help you build a rapport with them. And don’t be afraid to seek clarification on important points, such as budget. Doing so, far from being a sign of weakness, will show your dedication to genuinely fulfilling their needs. It will also give you a chance to build your working relationship even before they hire you. (Note though that in formal tender processes, both questions and responses from the client may well be made public to all suppliers tendering.) 8. Beware of ‘the stupids’ Your submission is finished ahead of the deadline. You’ve even double-checked it against a compliance matrix to make sure you’ve included a solution for everything the ITT asked for. Almost time then to breathe a sigh of relief and get on with all those everyday tasks you’ve had to put off. But not so fast. It’s so easy to blow it in the final stages. First, watch out for silly mistakes that undermine your credibility. Years ago, we were working closely with a key decision-maker whose role at the time was to award contracts to run entire rail franchises. As you can imagine, such decisions are far from simple and involve assessing a huge amount of technical detail. Yet he told us that his first action when assessing any bid was to quickly leaf through it and circle silly mistakes, which he called the ‘stupids’. These could include, say, instances where the writer had made a common spelling mistake in the name of a station. (For example, writing ‘Bridgewater’ instead of ‘Bridgwater’, when referring to the town in Somerset, UK.) Though these might seem trivial, collectively they call into question just how well the supplier knows the area. He and his colleagues would take the total number of silly mistakes into account when weighing up competing bids. In fact, his non-orthodox technique has a sound basis in social psychology. That’s because we are all hard-wired to look for cues that suggest we would be wise not to put all our trust in what we’re reading. The cues we rely on most (even if we do so unconsciously) include those that are easy for the people we’re assessing to get wrong if they don’t know what they’re doing. Failing to spell key place names correctly is a good example. The impact of stupids may be far greater than you think, as they can lead decision-makers to quickly lose confidence in your document and, by default, you and your organisation. So, ensure your document has been edited carefully and then proofread properly. Pay particularly close attention to the executive summary – a stupid mistake there really can make all the hard work of putting a bid together utterly futile. 9. Don’t fall at the final hurdle Finally, presentation. It’s more important than you may think. Your document needs to look approachable and professional – and be sure to check for any specific requirements such as the number of copies they need and whether the bid or proposal should be bound. And if you submit your bid electronically, do make sure it’s been safely received. After all, it’s impossible to win a new piece of business if you actually fail to deliver your bid at all. Try these 9 steps to finish first Its a competitive world out there, and in sales – unlike in sport – theres no prize for coming second. But apply these nine steps to all your bids and tenders, and you will be odds-on for a win every time. hbspt.cta.load(2645537, 'bcc87e53-f3f4-4632-9e9d-ecd393514f70', {}); Image credit: Halfpoint / Shutterstock

Microsoft Zune vs Apple iPod Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Microsoft Zune vs Apple iPod - Essay Example Apple released its first-ever portable media player, iPod Classic, in 2001. Like the usual portable media players, one can listen to music, watch videos, show pictures and even play games on the iPod. Apple has since modified the original iPod and has made it small and wearable (iPod Shuffle) and with more and more features like having built-in Wi-Fi and enabling it to record and edit HD videos, download and play online games, among other things. Each product has its own device generation as well.Microsoft released its own media player device in the year 2006 and called the original Zune 30. The numbers in their name indicates how big the capacity of the device is. Zune 30 can play songs, video and show pictures just like the iPod. The only difference is that photos and videos can be watched or played in either portrait or landscape mode. The Zune can also be modified to play games and can play in many different audio formats. It also has a Zune-to-Zune wireless sharing of music and photos. Next is Zune 4 which has the generation of 8 and 16. According to Surhone et al. (2010), it can be clicked 5 ways. Like its predecessor, it has Wi-Fi used for wireless sharing of photos and music in other Zune. It has also a FM radio. Zune 80 or 120 was the next release for the Microsoft, which produce positive results as it was called an â€Å"iPod alternative†. The features are the same as its previous predecessor but with higher capacity as the number indicated in the name and bigger screen.   The most recent release is the the Zune HD. As its name suggests, one can buy and rent high-definition (HD) movies and TV shows, play HD radio, download apps and games and surf the internet on the Zune HD.  

Critical Appraisal of Business Plan Process Towards the creation of a Essay

Critical Appraisal of Business Plan Process Towards the creation of a successful entrepreneurial venture - Essay Example Because it is contained in a tangible document, it is open to critical examination by important third parties such as possible co-investors, creditors, venture capitalists, or banks which may be considering extending a loan towards the business (BC Ministry of Small Business, 2011, p.2). Elements The business plan is comprised of several elements, which may be described as follows: Idea generation, while not a tangible part of the business plan proper, is a vital phase of the planning process. It is the germination of the business intention, the idea that combines a perceived need in the environment with a recognized capability in the business proponent. Idea generation is the most difficult stage of developing a new product or service, whether it be for a new or existing business (Crane, 2010, p. 104). This is because it involves the creative process and is not defined according to any established procedure, but often occurs as a flash of inspiration or unique insight as to how a pa rticular need may be fulfilled. When an idea is first generated, there is usually no indication as to whether it will be successful or even feasible, thus embarking on a course of action on the bases of new ideas always involves a great deal of conviction and a leap of faith. Strategic objectives are set subsequent to the generation of the idea. Strategic objectives provide the overall mission or purpose of the business (i.e., a â€Å"philosophical† purpose, according to Piotrowski, 2011, p. 174), as against the operational objectives. Strategic objectives relate to the definition of four elements of the business profile, namely products, customer groups, market segments, and geographic markets (Robert, 1998, p. 234). As with all statements of intention, however, the statement of strategic objectives is always couched in general terms that may admit of many varied interpretations. As a guide, therefore, the strategic objectives are at best advisory, but cannot be held as defi nitive as promises or commitments for which the business may be held answerable. Therefore, the effectiveness of strategic objectives will only be as meaningful as the best intentions of the business proponents may hold them to be. Market analysis and research is the process of gathering information about the prospective market of the business and drawing important insights and observations about future prospects. Information about the market’s size, its location, its history, the competitive profile, and likely profitability, as well as its general strength and health, are described and assessed. The information gathered during this stage provides the foundation for forecasting sales volumes and revenues, for determining the capacity of the business, and consequently the amount of financing required (Ehmke & Akridge, 2005, p.3). Market research analysis has its limitations. Ideally, accurate knowledge of markets is very important, but such knowledge does not serve to reduce knowledge of the business into a single solution that solves all possible problems. It is a myth that a business cannot fail if it completely knows its market; this is because the market is just one aspect of the business, the others being the financial, technical operations, accounting control, and human resources aspects (Brown, 2008, p. 464). Furthermore, the market has too many factors that could not be forecast with certainty, that any feeling of possessing complete knowledge of the market is a certain

Aeschylus :: essays research papers

Aeschylus was born in Eleusis, a Greek town near Athens, in 525 B.C. He was the first of the great Greek tragedians, preceding both Sophocles and Euripides, and is often credited with inventing tragic drama. Prior to Aeschylus, plays were primitive, consisting of a single actor and a chorus offering commentary. In his works, he added a "second actor" (often more than one) thus creating endless new dramatic possibilities. He lived until 456 B.C., fighting in the wars against Persia, and attaining great acclaim in the world of the Athenian theater. Aeschylus wrote nearly ninety plays; however, only seven have survived to the modern era, including such famous works as Prometheus Bound and The Seven Against Thebes. Agamemnon is the first of a trilogy, called the Oresteia, which continues with The Libation-Bearers and concludes with The Eumenides. The trilogy--the only such work to survive from Ancient Greece--is considered by many critics to be the greatest Athenian tragedy ever written, both for the power of its poetry and the strength of its characters. Agamemnon depicts the assassination of the title character by his wife, Clytemnestra, and her lover; The Libation-Bearers continues the story with the return of Agamemnon's son, Orestes, who kills his mother and avenges his father. Orestes is pursued by the Furies in punishment for his matricide, and finally finds refuge in Athens, where the god Athena relieves him of his persecution. The events of Agamemnon take place against a backdrop that would have been familiar to an Athenian audience. Agamemnon is returning from his victory at Troy, which Palmieri 2 has been besieged for ten years by Greek armies attempting to recover Helen, Agamemnon's brother's wife, stolen treacherously by the Trojan Prince, Paris. (The events of the Trojan War are recounted in Homer's Iliad.) The play's tragic events occur as a result of the crimes committed by Agamemnon's family. His father, Atreus, murdered and cooked the children of his own brother, Thyestes, and served them to him; Clytemnestra's lover, Aegisthus (Thyestes's only surviving son), seeks revenge for that crime. Meanwhile, Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia to gain a favorable wind to Troy, and Clytemnestra murders him to avenge her death. Tragedies were Athenian, reflecting the taste and intellectual climate of mid fifth century Athens. The weight of history and heritage becomes a major theme of the play, and indeed of the entire trilogy, for the family it depicts cannot escape the cursed cycle of bloodshed from its past. Aeschylus wrote this victory-winning trilogy in Athens, 458 B.C. His participation in a loosely organized political â€Å"group† is thought to have influenced his

Biag ni Lam-ang

Biag ni Lam-ang (The Life of Lam-ang) is an epic poem of the Ilokano people from the Ilocos region of the Philippines. Recited and written in the original Iloko, the poem is believed to be a composite work of various poets who passed it on through the generations, and was first transcribed around 1640 by a blind Ilokano bard named Pedro Bucaneg. Lam-ang is an extraordinary being, manifesting when he begins to speak in his early years, thus enabling him to choose his own name.His adventures begin when his father, Don Juan, set out for a battle but never returned. At barely nine months, Lam-ang goes to search for Don Juan in the highlands where the latter was said to have gone. Aware that her child was a blessed, exceptional creature, his mother Namongan allows him to go. Lam-ang then goes off in search of his father, leaving his grieving mother behind. When Lam-ang arrives at the place where Don Juan had disappeared, he is enraged to see his father’s severed head atop a bamboo pole; a scene he dreamt beforehand.Lam-ang demands to the local people why that had happened to his father, but does not receive an answer. Instead, the chieftain of the village tells him to leave under pain of suffering the same fate as his father. Lam-ang defies the caveat and bravely fights the chieftain and his tribesmen. The hero emerges victorious from the battle with little effort, avenging his murdered father. Fom this story, we can realize how the love of a son to his father and