A Report to the ABC Coal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

A Report to the ABC Coal - Essay Example For this to be met, true partnerships and cooperation have to be created with everyone associated with the industry including the shareholders, employees, customers, and the community at large. ABC Coal’s strategies touch on ensuring safety environment performance and working in partnerships for good produce; creating a sense of value including the reduction of real costs and improving the industry constantly through giving the workforce the right support and encouragement. If all these strategic objectives are met, the industry would be talking of nothing but very minimal problems that will affect the overall performance. However, has the company achieved all of these objectives? If not, is it possible to achieve them? How can they be achieved? Taking consideration on the current workforce in ABC Coal, there are several questions that can be brought up, including how to ensure a balanced workforce with the right number of people in respective job roles to ensure maximum and r eliable produce. How can the industry prevent total absence of people in critical job roles that can affect the overall performance of coal production? ABC Coal anticipates growing and considers expanding the existing operation and developing new mines due to the increases in demand of the produce especially from India and China. This will lead to an increase in the workforce and hence productivity of the industry. The Venus Mine is a major mining field that can produce about 7.8 million tons of coal annually, which is exported to three major countries including Japan, Korea and South Korea. There is also an ongoing project called the Mars Project which is established so as to expand the Venus Mine. One of the key benefits of this project is an increase in job opportunities among income from exporting, revenue and significant royalties and tax from both the government and the state. This has also called upon more workforce to the industry which prompts strategic planning so as to ba lance the increasing workforce with the budget of the industry paying attention to the wages of the employees. Critical Jobs Internal and External Supply The critical job roles are those in which the people involved conduct the core duties of the industry, have a comparative large number of staff, require a long period of training to develop the intended skills, are difficult to fill, and the number of vacancies available for the job roles has been high for the past several months. Two of the most critical job roles in ABC Coal are the geologist and the mining engineer. Both of them take five years of training, which is the longest training period offered to the job roles. In the internal supply, both job roles have had the least number of retirements with no retirement with the mining engineer over the past two years. Looking at the internal supply, the mining engineer has a great demand due to growth of employment for this role. Consequently, the external supply for the geologist is also very high due to the assumption that there are very few geologists that are experienced in the nation. In the current workforce, there are job roles that have no vacancies at all. These are the positions in which the employees are readily available in the market, and they are not critical at all. Most of them fall under the statutory roles, and they include the mine manager, open cut examiners, the supervisor under mining operations and the processing supervisor.

Ethics Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Ethics - Assignment Example The common form of genetic manipulation involves the insertion of new genetic material to a place that’s not specified in the host genome. This is done by isolating and copying the genetic material of interest by using molecular cloning methods in order to come up with a DNA sequence that contain the necessary genetic elements for expression. The construct is then inserted into the host organism. There exist other forms of genetic engineering such as gene targeting and knocking out of specific genes through engineered nucleases (Lemaux, 2006). Cloning though not considered genetic engineering or modification is closely related and genetic engineering has been seen to be used within it. Synthetic biology on the other hand is a discipline that is emerging where there is an introduction of artificially synthesized genetic material from raw materials into an organism. There are many resultants of genetic manipulations. When genetic materials from other species of organisms are add ed to a host the outcome is called a transgenic. When genes from same species that can interbreed are added to the result is a cisgenic. When genetic material is used to remove genetic material from another organism it results in a knockout organism (Lemaux, 2006). The process of genetic manipulation The first stage in genetic engineering is isolation of the gene. ... The third stage is called gene targeting where the gene is inserted in the host genome. The most common technique for doing his is random placement. Other techniques involve placing the gene in specific locations. Gene targeting uses is known to use homologous recombination to target desired changes to a specified endogenous gene (Beardmore & Porter, 2003). The fourth stage is called transformation and this is where the DNA is moved into an organism thereby altering its genotype or genetic makeup. There are various types of transformations but the most common is the Microinjection-injecting the DNA directly into the cell nucleus using an ultrafine needle. The fifth stage is called selection where the transformed cells are differentiated from the untransformed cells. If a given cell has been transformed successfully it usually contains a marker gene. The selection is done by growing the cell in a chemical that marks the cells that express that gene. The sixth stage is called regenerat ion where the organism is grown from the single transformed cell. In plants it is done through tissue culture while in animals it is done in embryonic cells. The last stage is confirmation and this is where the organism is analyzed to ensure that the genes will be expressed in an appropriate manner in the tissues of the organism. All the above seven steps are followed for successful genetic manipulation (Beardmore & Porter, 2003). Genetic safety There are many safety concerns that are brought about by genetically modified organisms. This has made studies be undertaken in this area to ascertain the extent to which the genetically modified organisms are safe in our environment or are safe for our consumption

Tutor Marked Assessment 5 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Tutor Marked Assessment 5 - Essay Example The Social Contract contains powerful arguments against authoritarian monarchy and in favour of liberal political regimes and philosophy. Rousseau s social and political concepts from the Social Contract had a limited influence upon the American War of Independence, although the ideas of Thomas Paine and John Locke had a greater impact on the American leadership. The American War of Independence was largely fought to end British control than to introduce radical or revolutionary social and political changes, it was a conservative change of power caused by disputes over taxation. The concepts of the Social Contract had the greatest influence on revolutionary France, especially ideas on equality and the general will. Revolutionary France formally abolished most of the inequalities that had existed during the Ancien Regime, its leaders seemingly well versed in the social theories of the Social Contract. Revolutionary France abolished the monarchy and the aristocracy thus making all French men legally equals if not economically so. Rousseau did not argue that women should have the same legal rights and social or economic equality as men. The Social Contract did not seek to end slavery, although the arguments put forward against absolutist monarchy could also be used in favour of abolishing slavery. The concept of equality was easily used to support liberal or even socialist policies. The French Revolution would take the means to achieve equality to extremes. Rousseau may have detested the Ancien Regime yet it is debatable if he would of supported all the policies adopted as part of the French Revolution, particularly during the reign of terror. Rousseau though realised that often to achieve republican regimes that sacrifices needed to be made, and that monarchies or authoritarian regimes would have to be violently overthrown if they did not vow to the general will of their respective subjects. Rousseau

Case Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 4

Case - Essay Example 5. The management of the company used the scientific management in their strategy. They looked at how the result of reducing the production would affect the growth of the company. In so doing they chose a method that could work and enable them make profits. 6. The quality control that the company used is that they satisfy their employees and motivate them enough. This ensured that they work well and produced quality goods. I believe that this is a good strategy as it ensured that they created quality goods for a long time. 7. The forces that are very important in the management of the company are the socio cultural forces and the technological forces. This is because they will keep the company in the upfront of the competition if they are looked at keenly. 10. The competitive strategy that the company has used is observing the competitors and coming up with a method that is a weakness for their competitions. The weakness of the competitors was also the strength of the company. 11. The key elements that the company observed was working with a target duration, having a measurable and attainable goals and having specific and results oriented objectives. These elements go a long way in ensuring that the company achieves all its goals and objectives. 12. One of the cultural variation issues that was once a problem for the company is the need of the manager to reward the workers in any instancing they do a good job. This is because it did not motivate them to work as hard. This is because they knew they could get a reward for putting just enough effort in the work that they did. 13. The company was wise to choose the acquisition strategy over the Greenfield. This is because with the acquisition strategy they have assurance that they will use their own strength to grow their company. 14. The company did not embrace the technology world and they thus cannot be able to have wider coverage. The company will also experience the problem of the wrong

Gender determination Essay Example for Free

Gender determination Essay When an individual is born, he or she has male or female sexual organs and this determines the sex of that individual and consequently how the society expects that person to behave. Gender is different however, in that it transcends the simple biological explanation of why one is a boy and another is a girl. This paper will focus on what makes one a girl putting aside the fact that one was born one. It will also look at the possibility of an individual being born a girl but changing to become a boy. How and why this is done is also part of the discussion. Gender is described as â€Å"the socially constructed roles, behaviour, activities and attributes that a particular society considers appropriate for men and women† (http://www. who. int). This means that to be masculine or feminine depends on a society and not only on the sexual organs that one is born with. Once an individual is born, the society teaches him or her how to behave according to the expectations that specific society has for an individual belonging to his or her particular sex. Every society has some roles that are assigned to male and female members of the society and this determines whether one is male or female. The question then becomes whether one is born with his or her gender or this is learned from the society that one grows in. In my own case, attending a girl’s school determined my becoming feminine and thus becoming a girl despite the fact that I was born a girl. In the school, only girls were around and thus were the only role models that I had. This meant that I only had other girls to emulate in my behaviour and my peers were also girls so together we all aspired to be better girls. The teachers we had were also keen on ensuring that we were trained on how girls should behave in certain occasions and also which aspects were to be admired in a girl and which were abhorrent in a female. This shows that one can be trained to become feminine or masculine but it is important to note that it is not always so. This can be demonstrated by the number of girls who would get into trouble with the teachers for playing truant yet this was supposed to be an undesirable trait for girls and hence was dissuaded. These girls were given the same training as all their peers yet tended to behave differently causing one to question whether gender is completely determined by the society (Morrow 1991). Despite the question that is posed above, it is clear that girls who are educated in girl’s only schools are usually more feminine than those who attend mixed schools. This is because those in mixed schools are not controlled as much as those in girls only schools. The environment they are reared in leans more towards femininity and thus tends to discourage any behaviour that is seen to be masculine. The lack of an alternative form of behaviour leads to their feminine behaviour although some will try deviate by doing what they think others are doing elsewhere (Askew Davey 2005). This then leads to the question whether or not one can change from being a girl into a boy? Apart from the biological way, culture has two different ways of changing an individual’s gender. This can either be done by changing the culture one has been brought up in or by being brought up in an environment that emphasises the behaviour of the opposite sex (Watney 1994). Since gender is determined by the roles that a society assigns to each sex, ones gender can change depending on the culture one finds him or herself in at a particular time. Roles assigned to the sexes by different cultures differs and are interchanged whereby roles assigned to women in one culture may be assigned to men in another culture. In this way a male in one culture may be seen to be feminine in another thus changing a male into a female or vice versa. Another way that one can change ones gender is by rearing a girl in a male environment. The girl tends to adopt the masculine behaviours exhibited by her male counter parts as has been witnessed by the women who venture into fields assumed to be the male domain. This is in politics and business where women who succeed in these environments are seen to be more masculine than feminine thus changing their gender to becoming more male than female (Miller, Lewy Peckham1997). In conclusion, it is correct to say that an individual’s gender is not only determined by his or her sex but also by the culture that they have grown in. the roles that a culture assigns to an individual are used to determine femininity and masculinity of members of the society. It is possible for ones gender to be changed depending on which community one is in. Roles assigned depending on an individuals sex change according to the society. Furthermore, the environment one is in influences the behaviour one has thus influencing the gender that one belongs to. Reference 1. Askew J. Davey M. 2005, Sex Acts: Practices of Femininity and Masculinity, Archives of Sexual Behaviour Vol. 34, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks 2. Gender, World health organization retrieved on 13th April 2009 from http://www. who. int/topics/gender/en 3. Miller J. B. , Lewy J. Peckham E. 1997, Context Effects on Self-Perceptions of Feminine and Masculine Quantities, Sex: A Journal of Research Vol. 37 4. Morrow F. 1991, Unleashing Our Unknown Selves: An Inquiry into the Future of Femininity and Masculinity, Praeger Publishers 5. Watney S. 1994, Aphrodite of the Future, Artforum International Vol. 32

Week 4 discussion questions Essay Example for Free

Week 4 discussion questions Essay Describe a time when your assumption about a situation was incorrect. What do you think led to your incorrect assumption? How did your assumption interfere with your ability to think critically about the situation? A: When I first became a student at the University of Phoenix I assumed that I would take class in the morning once a week. What lead me to believe this assumption was that I thought it would be like any other normal college. This assumption affected my ability to think because I originally set my mind to morning mode, when class was night. Use your favorite Internet search engine to locate three automobile commercials. Identify a fallacy used in each commercial. How are these fallacies used in the commercials? Why do you think they were included? A in the first commercial Toyota Camery, they focus more on the acting scene then promoting the Camary. They make it seem like those situations happen. The second commercial was a mustang commercial. the fallacy is that they make people believe that by having that care it makes you look cool that way people can go out and buy it. The third was a fiat commercial, they say that the interest and payments are low and no credit check, but once your in the dealer none of what the commercial promoted is applied. They do this type of advertisement to try an get the consumer to buy and to make the commercial interesting and so the audience is engaged. How might you use critical thinking to help someone who is struggling with low self-esteem and a low sense of self-worth to see beyond the media messages they receive on a daily basis? A: The best thing that I can do to help someone is by giving them my self knowledge and what I know about it. that no one is perfect and there is no need to follow what celebertys do because its all show. We can then discuss this particular topic, then research about it and show what the consequences and lead to. In his inaugural speech, President Kennedy used means of persuasion to win over his supporters and those who were possibly dissatisfied with his election. Suppose you opposed President Kennedy’s ideas and wanted to find  fault with his speech. What steps would you take to evaluate his arguments? A: I would carefully listen to what the speech is about and carefully go over it and find simple cons and consequences to a particular topic that he addresses or want s to make happen. Reading, re-reading, looking for main points, researching, questioning, and finding information that is opposed to what he thinks he can make happen. How do you think being open to criticism might help you solve problems in your daily life? Being open to criticsm can help in my daily life because I can simply take that criticsm and use it in a positive way to improve myself in any situation. What types of questions would you use as you talk with her to help her make a decision based on critical thinking rather than emotion? Why are questions such a valuable aspect of critical thinking? A: I would help her focus more on the facts and details rather than the emotional part on how she feels. After focusing on the facts she can develop feelings towards it that are positive. Asking questions are important because once they are answered they can change a persons perspective on a certain topic.

Reading for Pleasure Importance

Reading for Pleasure Importance It is important to read as it can improve childrens language use and by reading for pleasure they can adapt to the language easily. According to Reyhene (1998) children who read for pleasure could somehow improve their language skills unconsciously and automatically. Besides that, Bignold (2003) pointed out that the reading habit could enhance or improve childrens reading skills. Therefore, the main issue of reading is that it helps to expand young peoples experiences and knowledge (Green, 2002). Children not only can expand their knowledge but they can also cultivate reading habits for lifelong learning (Pandian Ibrahim, 1997). It is usually being recommended that reading behavior should start at an early age and conducive reading environment plays an important role in order to stimulate lifelong reading (Pandian, 1997; Anderson, 1982; Winebrenner, 1971; Sanacore, 1990; Krashen, 1996). The exposure to reading for pleasure could help the children in many ways and it can increase or improve their reading achievement. Reading materials appear important for the development of reading comprehension such as reading fluency, or the ability to read text quickly and accurately (Chall, 1996; LaBerge Samuels, 1974; Stanovich, 1986), and learning many vocabulary because children are more likely to encounter new words by reading rather than from their daily conversation (Hayes Ahrens, 1988). Reading could increase childrens background knowledge that could help to assist future growth in reading comprehension (Stanovich, 2000). 2.2 TEACHERS ROLE Teachers play an important role where they could be described as the one who can instill intrinsic motivation to read among the students. Cole (1999) recommended that in order to motivate students to do pleasure reading, a teacher must be motivated to discover their students literacy personalities. Cole (1999) also talks about the role of librarian teachers who could offer the students with an enormous variety of books on various topics, levels and genre to capture the interest of students in reading. Students will have the interest to read if the librarian teachers could provide books according to the four stages of reading development such as building fluency, reading for pleasure, reading to learn and mature reading (Gillet Temple, 1994; Fong, 1997). According to Abeyrathna Zainab (2004), teachers could help inculcate the reading habit by giving students the experience of reading under guidance such as helping students to select materials based on their interests. Students are usually motivated to read by adults and take the adults as their reading model. Parents would be in the first rank, teachers would be in the second rank and librarians would be the third choice in being the students reading model (Hughes-Hassell and Lutz 2006). Most of the students are motivated to read usually because of the parental and home influences. Teachers should never take for granted that reading potential of students can happen anywhere although they come from an environment where reading is not valued (Duncan, 2010). Teachers can have strong and lasting effects on students reading attitudes and practices (Pitcher et al. 2007). Teachers must adopt an enthusiastic attitude toward reading and openly discuss their personal reading lives with students. In the class, teachers can have sharing book recommendation or just mention a recent enjoyable reading experience that could help change the perceptions and beliefs of nonreaders. The main problem is that most teach ers do not do reading for pleasure. Nathanson, Pruslow, and Levitt (2008) found that most graduate education students viewed reading as important, yet many were disinterested and did not engage in regular personal reading. Teachers cant expect students to be excited about reading if they themselves are not personally engaged in reading for pleasure (Duncan, 2010). 2.3 ROLES OF LIBRARIES AND LIBRARIANS This is the part where the roles of the library are being stressed and the environment of the library plays an important role. Every classroom should have a classroom library collection that can be filled from the main library collection. It is easy to access and at the same time could encourage and motivate students to read (Gniewek, 1998). The school librarians are the ones who should provide a richer collection by having latest books and knowing the students reading preferences. According to Abeyrathna Zainab (2004), students are not happy with the library collection when it comes to reading for pleasure. There were a vast differences on the books that the students need and the books that was available for them to read. It is suggested that to solve the problem, the school library should have borrowed some books from the public library for teaching and reading needs. This could help financially for the school and obtaining reading materials that students are interested in. In Thailand, a study was carried out about the roles of libraries. According to Somsong (1999), the roles of libraries, librarians and library programs play an important role in helping to stimulate and develop reading interests among students. There are lots of studies that indicated that children who are in schools that have libraries and librarians read a lot often compared to children who attended schools that have libraries but no librarians to guide them (Lance, 1994; Lance, Rodney and Hamilton-Pennell, 2000). It is important to have librarians in the library as they can help provide resources for the students regarding their reading preferences. They can help children search for the books that students prefer easily by organizing the books according to its genre which will trigger the students interest (Whelan, 2004). Reading can also be integrated with electronics such as reading e-mails and journals from the internet (Pandian, 1997). Libraries should have equipped with electronics such as computers and internet connection to provide the latest issue or information (Whelan, 2004). Librarians should renew their effort in guiding and tutoring the children for the usage of the libraries to stimulate and to promote positive attitude towards using the library for leisure reading (Chai, 1996). A warmth feeling of librarians who welcome readers to read in the library could help in stimulating students to read more. In Sri Lanka, the National Library and Documentation Service Board (NLDB) carried out a survey in 2002 and found the following situations; reading habits of students was poor due to the condition of the school libraries that was not encouraging as the book collections were old and most students read light materials such as magazines, novels, comic books and newspapers (Abeyrathna Zainab, 2004). 2.4 PARENTS ROLE Parents play an important role in order to reinforce the childs reading habit and interest (Cole, 1999). The first teacher for reading are the parents as they are the role models for their children and this apply to the interest in reading either to gain knowledge or for pleasure. According to De Medina (1976), who studied 50 families in Brazil, reading only occurred when there is a place to read at home, if the adults bought books and also if there is someone who guides the children to read often at home. There is another study which supports that home does influence reading among children. According to Kathers (1996), the study is on the children who were active in participating in extracurricular activities or have children that perform well on their reading test and have parents who were actively involved in school activities (Goldenberg, 1992). Home environment did influence ninth grade students attitude towards reading. Home environment can be included when a child is used to being read to, having a public library use, receive books as gifts, large personal and parental book collection and have subscriptions to magazines (Abeyrathna Zainab, 2004). Parents who are readers can encourage reading for pleasure among their children but it will be reduced once the child grew older (Demise, 2001). College students do not need parental encouragement as they usually read for pleasure. Besides that, they also do not need their educational status to make it as a leisure reading habits (Blackwood, 1991). Parents who create a pleasant atmosphere that fosters reading by providing space, reading materials, encouragement and example will endorse their children the love for reading (Pandian, 1997; Greaney, 1996). 2.5 ATTITUDES ABOUT READING There are two motivations that could encourage students to read for pleasure. The first one would be individuals feelings about reading. Alexander and Filler (1976) stated that the feelings of the reader can be influenced by involving themselves in reading, thus attitudes about reading should relate to individuals. The theory of information pickup suggests that perception depends completely upon information in the stimulus array rather than atmosphere that are influenced by cognition. According to Gibson, perception is an express outcome of the properties of the environment and does not engage in any form of sensory processing. Information pickup theory stresses that perception requires a lively organism. The act of perception depends upon an interaction involving the organism and the environment. All perceptions are made in reference to body position and functions (proprioception). Awareness of the environment derives from how it reacts to our movements (Gibson, 1977). The second motivation is childrens interest in reading. Researchers have looked into the interest that affects comprehension. Schiefele (1996) found that college students who were interested in the text materials used in the study understood those materials more deeply than did students who were less interested in the materials, even when the students prior knowledge of the materials and general intelligence were controlled. In studies of fifth and sixth graders, Renninger (1992) found that interest in the materials enhanced comprehension, even of materials that were quite difficult for the children (although there were some gender differences in these patterns). Thus interest in reading appears to be an important motivational variable influencing different aspects of reading performance. 2.6 REASONS STUDENTS DO NOT READ FOR PLEASURE One of the main reasons students do not read for pleasure is because of the technologies. According to Gunasekara (2002), there are three major hindrances to the promotion of reading habits. It includes preference to chat using the computer, listening to the radio and preference for television viewing. There are also some students who liked to read and considered themselves readers but did not take the time to read regularly or update their knowledge. This does not mean that they are reluctant to read but they gave priority to other activities such as sports, social life and school work (Abeyrathna Zainab, 2004). 2.7 ACADEMIC READING PURPOSE Most reading was done mainly for examination purposes (Abeyrathna Zainab, 2004). Students usually read to prepare for examination. A recent Malaysian survey on the reading behavior of 22,400 individuals and 6,050 households by the Ministry of Education revealed that only 20 per cent of Malaysians read regularly (Pandian, 2001). This review (New Straits Times, 29 August, 1996) further stressed that the small figure includes students who read just to pass exams. In Malaysia, the students associate reading with academic tasks and not for knowledge or pleasure most of the time (Sunday Star, May 26, 1991). By doing this, it does not enable students who can read to use the activity in a significant way for self or social development (Pandian, 1997). The main hindrance on reading for pleasure is the excessive concern of students with reading textbook for examination purposes. Students will regard reading to pursuit knowledge in preparing for the examination as the main purpose of reading and they will never realize the importance of reading for pleasure or enjoyment (Abeyrathna Zainab, 2004). 2.8 TECHNOLOGIES AND COMMUNICATION Public awareness has been haggard to the rising crisis of non-reading among Malaysians especially among the Malaysian students. Readership behavior here refers to reading skills and enthusiasm to read for information and leisure as well as reading practices that appoint different prints and audio-visual contents, such as newspapers, magazines, non-textbooks and informative material of various multimedia (Pandian, 2001). The cultivation of reading habits is also inclined by a series of other factors like exposure to media and computers. We live in an era where technologies are the center of everything and we tend to be occupied by it. One study investigating the media exposure among young people in the Klang Valley has observed that in a week these young people spend about 14.6 hours on television, 3.4 hours on video, 4.1 hours on computer, 16.3 hours on radio, 7.11 hours on newspapers and 4.7 hours on books and comics (The Star, May 8, 1997). The above findings advocate that the visu al representation is becoming arguably more significant than the printed word (Pandian Ibrahim, 1997). This proves that Malaysians spend more time on technologies rather than having the printed materials to read. Reading reluctance happens when a generation who can read chooses not to read. This situation can lead to generating more reluctant readers. The term reluctant readers refer to the people who can read but do not read. The focus on reading is critical given the growth of communications technology and the adjustment of reality we tackle in modern societies. In order to make reading more meaningful, it is important for young people to learn not only to read but nurture reading behavior for lifelong learning. There are many new forms of reading texts such as mass and multimedia but it does not ensure if communication technology will be used to sustain students reading for pleasure and lifelong learning (Pandian, 2001). 2.9 READING MATERIALS PREFERRED BY STUDENTS Easy access to books could promote or encourage students to read more. In an article of a magazine by Duncan (2010), it is suggested that every classroom should have a library where the books are filled with high-interest reading materials that students would love to read. Books that are easily accessible are most likely to be read by students when they do not have anything to do. Lots of researches have been done on the most important role which is the home environment itself that could promote and create lifelong readers but for students who could not afford to buy any reading materials, the classroom library must provide many reading materials that could be easily accessed. It can also help to promote positive reading attitudes and help the students to improve their reading performance (Young Moss 2006). Teachers are the ones who will be in charge of picking the texts that are popular among students. Teachers should not limit the students reading by only providing books they feel students should be reading. Teachers need to widen the concept of reading materials and also supply books with a wide range of fiction and nonfiction books (Duncan, 2010). Comics, series books, magazines and other materials not traditionally read in school should be considered (Lesesne, 2003). Students who are intimidated by books, magazines and comics might be interested in reading as it offers a comfortable and risk-free reading experience (Duncan, 2010).