16: Job Application Materials
- Explain a cover letter, an application letter, and a resume.
- Describe research techniques for job searching.
- Explain the process of interviewing.
- Teach networking strategies.
The job search process can be intimidating. Many people struggle with how to look for jobs and the application process. The diagram below explains the steps of a job search. Many people think it starts with finding a job post, applying with your application/cover letter letter and resume, and then going into the interview. There are many more steps in order to be successful in your job search.
Job seeking is a process that involves several steps that should be completed in order to effectively obtain the desired position. Often, it looks like the following:
The Six-Step Job Search Process
Job Research
The first questions is what type of job are you looking for? Are you just coming out of college and looking for an entry level position? Are you an experienced technician in your field and you are looking for another job? Once, you have determined what type of job you are looking for then you need to do some research on positions available in your field. There are many places you can look to find a job in your field of study. There are job search websites like Monster, Indeed, Linkdin, etc... You can also look at company websites in their "career opportunity" section. It is also good to tell friends, family, and colleagues that you are looking for a job. They might know of opportunities that are available at their employer.
Once you find the jobs you want to apply for you will need to decipher the job description.
Decipher the Job Description and Identify Each Skill and Qualification
Most job descriptions can be copied from the employer’s website. Copy the job description and do the following (if you only have a hard copy, it’s worthwhile to retype it as you’ll want to manipulate each requirement for the position)
- Put each skill and qualification on a separate line.
- Group like with like. If communication skills are listed as important, in addition to giving presentations to potential clients, list one after the other.
In the following sample, each component of the job description is considered and deciphered, in preparation for applying and eventually interviewing for the position.
Resume
A resume is a selective record of your background—your educational, military, work experience, your certifications, abilities, and so on. You send it, sometimes accompanied by an application/cover letter, to potential employers when you are seeking job interviews.
A resume should be easily readable, effectively designed, and adapted to audience expectations. If you are taking a technical writing course, your instructor may be okay with your making up a few details in your resume to represent what you'll be when you graduate. However, if you're just starting your college education and have little work experience, why not try using the techniques and suggestions here to create a resume that represents your current skills, abilities, and background? Developing a decent-looking resume based on what you are now is a challenge that you have to deal with at some point—so why not now?
Resume Design: An Overview
Before personal computers, people used one resume for varied kinds of employment searches. However, with less expensive desktop publishing and high-quality printing, people sometimes rewrite their resumes for every new job they go after. For example, a person who seeks employment both with a community college and with a software-development company would use two different resumes. The contents of the two might be roughly the same, but the organization, format, and emphases would be quite different.
 You probably also know about resume-writing services that will create your resume for you for a hundred dollars or so. If you are in a time bind or if you are extremely insecure about your writing or resume-designing skills, these services might help. But often they take your information and put it into a computer database that then forces it into a prefab structure. They often use the same resume-writing software just mentioned; they charge you about what the software costs. The problem is that these agencies simply cannot be that sensitive or perceptive about your background or your employment search. Nor are you likely to want to pay for their services every month or so when you are in the thick of a job search. Why not learn the skills and techniques of writing your own resume here, save the money, and write better resumes anyway?
There is no one right way to write a resume. Every person's background, employment needs, and career objectives are different, thus necessitating unique resume designs. Every detail, every aspect of your resume must start with who you are, what your background is, what the potential employer is looking for, and what your employment goals are—not with from some prefab design. Therefore, use this chapter to design your own resume, browse through the various formats, and play around with them until you find one that works for you.
Sections in Resumes
Resumes can be divided into three sections: the heading, the body, and the conclusion. Each of these sections has fairly common contents.
Heading. The top third of the resume is the heading . It contains your name, phone numbers, address, and other details such as your occupation, titles, and so on. Some resume writers include the name of their profession, occupation, or field. In some examples, you'll see writers putting things like "CERTIFIED PHYSICAL THERAPIST" very prominently in the heading. Headings can also contain a goals and objectives subsection and a highlights subsection. These two special subsections are described later.
Body. In a one-page resume, the body is the middle portion, taking up a half or more of the total space of the resume. In this section, you present the details of your work, education, and military experience. This information is arranged in reverse chronological order. In the body section, you also include your accomplishments, for example, publications, certifications, equipment you are familiar with, and so on. There are many ways to present this information:
- You can divide it functionally —into separate sections for work experience and education.
- You can divide it thematically —into separate sections for the different areas of your experience and education.
Conclusion. In the final third or quarter of the resume, you can present other related information on your background. For example, you can list activities, professional associations, memberships, hobbies, and interests. At the bottom of the resume, people often put "REFERENCES AVAILABLE ON REQUEST" and the date of preparation of the resume. At first, you might think that listing non-work and personal information would be totally irrelevant and inappropriate. Actually, it can come in handy—it personalizes you to potential employers and gives you something to chat while you're waiting for the coffee machine or the elevator. For example, if you mention in your resume that you raise goats, that gives the interviewer something to chat with you about during those moments of otherwise uncomfortable silence.
Resumes: Types and Design
To begin planning your resume, decide which type of resume you need. This decision is in part based on requirements that prospective employers may have, and in part based on what your background and employment needs are.
Type of organization . Resumes can be defined according to how information on work and educational experience is handled. There are several basic, commonly used plans or designs you can consider using.
- Functional design : Illustrated schematically below, the functional design starts with a heading; then presents either education or work experience, whichever is stronger or more relevant; then presents the other of these two sections; then ends with a section on skills and certifications and one on personal information. Students who have not yet begun their careers often find this design the best for their purposes. People with military experience either work the detail into the education and work-experience sections as appropriate, or they create separate sections specifically for military experience at the same level as education and work experience.
- Thematic design: Another approach to resumes is the thematic design, illustrated schematically in the preceding. It divides your experience and education into categories such as project management, budgetary planning, financial tracking, personnel management, customer sales, technical support, publications—whichever areas describe your experience. Often, these categories are based directly on typical or specific employment advertisements. If the job advertisement says that Company ABC wants a person with experience in training, customer service, and sales, then it might be a smart move to design thematic headings around those three requirements. If you want to use the thematic approach in your resume, take a look at your employment and educational experience—what are the common threads? Project management, program development, troubleshooting, supervision, maintenance, inventory control? Take a look at the job announcement you're responding to—what are the three, four, or five key requirements it mentions? Use these themes to design the body section of your resume. These themes become the headings in the body of the resume. Under these headings you list the employment or educational experience that applies. For example, under a heading like "FINANCIAL RECORDS," you might list the accounting and bookkeeping courses you took in college, the company-sponsored seminars on Excel you took, and the jobs where you actually used these skills.
Type of information . Types of resumes can be defined according to the amount and kind of information they present:
Detailed resumes: This type provides not only dates, titles, and names, but also details about your responsibilities and statements about the quality and effectiveness of your work. This is the type most people write, and the type that is the focus of most technical-writing courses. The rest of the details in this section of this chapter focus on writing the detailed resume.
Layout and Detail Format in Resumes
At some point in your resume planning, you'll want to think schematically about the layout and design of the thing. General layout has to do with the design and location of the heading, the headings for the individual sections, and the orientation of the detailed text in relation to those headings. Detail formats are the way you choose to arrange and present the details of your education and work experience.
Layout. Look at resumes in this book and in other sources strictly in terms of the style and placement of the headings, the shape of the text (the paragraphs) in the resumes, and the orientation of these two elements with each other. Some resumes have the headings centered; others are on the left margin. Notice that the actual text—the paragraphs—of resumes typically does not extend to the far left and the far right margins. Full-length lines are not considered as readable or scannable as the shorter ones you see illustrated in the examples in this book.
Notice that many resumes use a "hanging-head" format. In this case, the heading starts on the far left margin while the text is indented another inch or so. This format makes the heading stand out more and the text more scannable. Notice also that in some of the text paragraphs of resumes, special typography is used to highlight the name of the organization or the job title.
Detail formats. You have to make a fundamental decision about how you present the details of your work and education experience. Several examples of typical presentational techniques are shown below. The elements you work with include:
- Occupation, position, job title.
- Company or organization name.
- Time period you were there.
- Key details about your accomplishments and responsibilities while there.
There are many different ways to format this information. It all depends on what you want to emphasize and how much or how little information you have (whether you are struggling to fit it all on one page or struggling to make it fill one page). Several different detail formats are shown above.
Special Sections in Resumes
Here are some ideas for special resume sections, sections that emphasize your goals or qualifications.
Highlights, summary section . In the illustration below, you'll notice the "Highlights" section that occurs just below the heading (the section for name, address, phone number, etc.) and just above the main experience and education sections. This is a popular section in resumes. Resume specialists believe that the eye makes first contact with a page somewhere one-fourth to one-third of the way down the page—not at the very top. If you believe that, then it makes sense to put your very "best stuff" at that point. Therefore, some people list their most important qualifications, their key skills, their key work experience in that space on the page. Actually, this section is useful more for people who have been in their careers for a while. It's a good way to create one common spot on the resume to list those key qualifications about yourself that may be spread throughout the resume. Otherwise, these key details about yourself are scattered across your various employment and educational experience—in fact, buried in them.
Early-Career Resumes
If you are at the beginning of your career, all the advice and examples to this point may seem fine and good, but what if you have very little experience? Careers must start somewhere—and so must resumes. You can use several strategies to fill out your resume so that you appear to be the promising entry-level candidate that we all know you are.
- Cite relevant projects (both in academia and community) you've worked on, even if they are not exactly related to the career that you pursue.
- Spend extra time describing college courses and programs you have been involved in. What about team projects, research projects, or reports?
- Include volunteer work that has had any trace of technical in it. (If you've not done any volunteer work, get to volunteering!)
- List any organizations you have been a member of and describe any of their activities that have any trace of technical in them. (If you've not belonged to any technically oriented organizations, get to belonging!)
- Use formatting to spread what information you have to fill out the resume page.
In the student resume shown below, notice how much space that details about education take up. This resume writer could have included even more: Descriptions of key courses and projects could have been provided under a heading such as "Essential Coursework."
Early-career resume . (Live link as of February 2021) Use the strategies suggested here to fill out your resume with good information.
Notice too that the resume above includes plenty of co-op and part-time work. The bulleted-list format extends the length of the resume so that it fills up the page. At the bottom of the resume, the writer lists awards and organizations. These too could be amplified if necessary. Details as to what the award is about, why this writer received it, and what those organizations are—these are examples of good information that could be added, if necessary.
Subtle changes in format can also help make your resume fill a page. Top, bottom, left, and right margins can all be pushed down, up, and in from the standard 1.0 inch to 1.25 inches. You can add extra space between sections. To do so, don't just press Enter. Instead, use the paragraph-formatting feature of your software to put 6 or 9 points, for example, below the final element of each section. Line spacing is another subtle way to extend a resume. If your software by default uses 13.6 points of line spacing for Times New Roman 12 point text, experiment with changing the line spacing to exactly 15.0 points.
As you plan, write, or review your resume, keep these points in mind:
- Readability: are there any dense paragraphs over 6 lines? Imagine your prospective employer sitting down to a two-inch stack of resumes. Do you think they are going to slow down to read through big thick paragraphs? Probably not. Try to keep paragraphs under 6 lines long. The "hanging-head" design helps here.
- White space. Picture a resume crammed with detail, using only half-inch margins all the way around, a small type size, and only a small amount of space between parts of the resume. Our prospective employer might be less inclined to work through that also. "Air it out!" Find ways to incorporate more white space in the margins and between sections of the resume. Again, the "hanging-head" design is also useful.
- Special format. Make sure that you use a special format consistently throughout the resume. For example, if you use a hanging-head style for the work-experience section, use it in the education section as well.
- Consistent margins. Most resumes have several margins: the outermost, left margin and at least one internal left margin. Typically, paragraphs in a resume use an internal margin, not the far-left margin. Make sure to align all appropriate text to these margins as well. Avoid unnecessary multiple margins: they give your resume a ragged messy look.
- Terse writing style. It's okay to use a rather clipped, terse writing style in resumes—up to a point. The challenge in most resumes is to get it all on one page (or two if you have a lot of information to present). Instead of writing "I supervised a team of five technicians..." you write "Supervised a team of five technicians..." However, you don't leave out normal words such as articles.
- Bold, italics, different type size, caps, other typographical special effects. Use special typography, but keep it under control. Resumes are great places to use all of your fancy word-processing features such as bold, italics, different fonts, and different type sizes.  Too much fancy typography can be distracting (plus make people think you are hyperactive). Also, whatever special typography you use, be consistent with it throughout the resume. If some job titles are italics, make them all italics. Avoid all-caps text—it's less readable.
- Page fill. Do everything you can to make your resume fill out one full page and to keep it from spilling over by 4 or 5 lines to a second page. At the beginning of your career, it's tough filling up a full page of a resume. As you move into your career, it gets hard keeping it to one page. If you need a two-page resume, see that the second page is full or nearly full.
- Clarity of boundary lines between major sections. Design and format your resume so that whatever the main sections are, they are very noticeable. Use well-defined headings and white space to achieve this. Similarly, design your resume so that the individual segments of work experience or education are distinct and separate from each other.
- Reverse chronological order. Remember to list your education and work-experience items starting with the current or most recent and working backwards in time.
- Consistency of phrasing. Use the same style of phrasing for similar information in a resume—for example, past tense verbs for all descriptions of past work experience.
- Consistency of punctuation style. For similar sections of information use the same kind of punctuation—for example, periods, commas, colons, or nothing.
- Translations for "inside" information. Don't assume readers will know what certain abbreviations, acronyms, or symbols mean—yes, even to the extent of "GPA" or the construction "3.2/4.00." Take time to describe special organizations you may be a member of.
- Grammar, spelling, usage.  Watch out particularly for the incorrect use of its and it's.
A well-written résumé can do seven specific things for you and your job search:
Application/Cover Letters
In many job applications, you attach an application/cover letter to your resume. Actually, the letter comes before the resume.
The role of the application/cover letter is to draw a clear connection between the job you are seeking and your qualifications listed in the resume. To put it another way, the letter matches the requirements of the job with your qualifications, emphasizing how you are right for that job. The application/cover letter is not a lengthy summary of the resume—not at all. It selectively mentions information in the resume, as appropriate.
Application/Cover Letters
When writing an application/cover letter, remember that you probably have competition. Your audience is a professional who screens and hires job applicants—someone who may look through dozens or even hundreds of other applications on the day they receive yours. The immediate objective of your application/cover letter and accompanying resume is to attract this person’s attention. Your ultimate goal is to obtain an interview.
As you write your application/cover letter, be sure you complete three tasks: catch the reader’s attention favorably, convince the reader that you are a qualified candidate for the job, and request an interview.
Application letter checklist:
- Identify the job by title and let the recipient know how you heard about it.
- Summarize your qualifications for the job, specifically your work experience, activities that show your leadership skills, and your educational background.
- Refer the reader to your enclosed resume.
- Ask for an interview, stating where you can be reached and when you will be available. If your prospective employer is located in another city and you plan to visit the area, mention the dates for your trip.
- If you are applying for a specific job, include any information pertinent to the position that is not included in your resume.
To begin planning your letter, decide which type of application letter you need. This decision is, in part, based on employers' requirements and, in part, based on what your background and employment needs are. In many ways, types of application letters are like the types of resumes. The types of application letters can be defined according to amount and kind of information:
- Highlight letters —Another type of application/cover letter, the type you do for most technical writing courses, tries to summarize the key information from the resume, the key information that will emphasize that you are a good candidate for the job. In other words, it selects the best information from the resume and summarizes it in the letter—this type of letter is especially designed to make the connection with the specific job.
Preparation and practice are critical to every step of the job search process, and the application/cover letter is no different. Five actions can help make your application/cover letter compelling:
- Make a list of your top ten strengths.
- Make a list of your top five weaknesses (also known as areas you’d like to strengthen).
- Decipher the job description to identify each separate skill and qualification.
- Compare the two lists to see if they are in alignment. Also identify the gaps—does the job description list something that you haven’t done?
- Highlight your top three skills that align with the job description as you will use them in your application/cover letter.
Your application/cover letter should be engaging, informative, and show your command of the written word. It should flow easily from a reader’s perspective, making the connection between the opportunity and your ability to succeed if given the chance. The tone should be compelling. You should be excited about the opportunity and you should be confident of your ability to succeed (even if you truly lack the confidence).
Letter Template
The application/cover letter template includes three main sections:
- The introductory paragraph.
- The last paragraph, which reiterates your interest.
- The magic middle.
The Introductory Paragraph
In the introductory paragraph, you introduce yourself to the hiring manager or recruiter. That first paragraph of the application letter is the most important; it sets everything up—the tone, focus, as well as your most important qualification. A typical problem in the introductory paragraph involves diving directly into work and educational experience. The paragraph should include three general items:
- State the purpose of the letter—to inquire about an employment opportunity.
- Indicate the source of your information about the job—newspaper advertisement, a personal contact, or other.
- State one eye-catching, attention-getting thing about yourself in relation to the job or to the employer that will cause the reader to want to continue.
And you try to do all things like these in the space of very short paragraph—no more than 3 to 4 lines of the standard business letter.
Main body paragraphs
In the main parts of the application letter, you present your work experience, education, and training—whatever makes that connection between you and the job you are seeking. Remember that this is the most important job you have to do in this letter—to enable the reader see the match between your qualifications and the requirements for the job.
There are two common ways to present this information:
- Functional approach—This one presents education in one section, and work experience in the other. If there were military experience, that might go in another section. Whichever of these sections contains your "best stuff" should come first, after the introduction.
- Thematic approach—This one divides experience and education into groups such as "management," "technical," "financial," and so on and then discusses your work and education related to them in separate paragraphs.
Another section worth considering for the main body of the application/cover letter is one in which you discuss your goals, objectives (the focus of your career) , what you are doing, or want to do professionally. A paragraph like this is particularly good for people just starting their careers, when there is not much to put in the letter. Of course, be careful about loading a paragraph like this with "sweet nothings." For example, "I am seeking a challenging, rewarding career with a dynamic upscale company where I will have ample room for professional and personal growth"—come on! give us a break! Might as well say, "I want to be happy, well-paid, and well-fed."
Keep in mind that cover letters should not simply reiterate the skills and experiences listed on the resume. They should add value to the job application package by sharing new information that demonstrates the applicant is appropriate for the position. Consider, for example, sharing an experience or project you have worked on that demonstrates your talents and accomplishments.
Closing paragraph
In the last paragraph of the application/cover letter, you can indicate how the prospective employer can get in touch with you and the best times for an interview. This is the place to urge that prospective employer to contact you to arrange an interview.
Background Details in the Application/Cover Letter
One of the best ways to make an application/cover letter great is to work in details, examples, specifics about related aspects of your educational and employment background. Yes, if the resume is attached, readers can see all that details there. However, a letter that is overly general and vague might generate so little interest that the reader might not even care to turn to the resume.
In the application/cover letter, you work in selective detail that makes your letter stand out, makes it memorable, and substantiates the claims you make about your skills and experience. Take a look at this example, which is rather lacking in specifics:
As for my experience working with persons with developmental disabilities, I have worked and volunteered at various rehabilitation hospitals and agencies in Austin and Houston [ say which ones to inject more detail into this letter ]. I have received training [ where? certificates? ] in supervising patients and assisting with physical and social therapy [ which specific therapies? ]. Currently, I am volunteering at St. David's Hospital [ doing what? ] to continue my education in aiding persons with developmental disabilities [ which specific disabilities? ].
Now take a look at the revision:
As for my experience working with persons with developmental disabilities, I have worked and volunteered at Cypress Creek Hospital in Houston and Capital Area Easter Seals/ Rehabilitation Center and Health South Rehabilitation Hospital in Austin . I have received CPR, First Aid, and Crisis Intervention certificates from Cypress Creek Hospital . Currently, I am volunteering at St. David's Hospital assisting with physical therapy to persons with developmental disabilities in the aquatics department .
Early-Career Application/Cover Letters
In the preceding, you've seen some rather impressive application/cover letters. But what if you don't have all that experience—how do you construct a respectable application/cover letter?
- Cite relevant projects (both in academia and community) you've worked on, even if they are not exactly related to the career that you pursue.
- Spend extra time describing college courses and programs you have been involved in. What about team projects, research projects, or reports?
- Include volunteer work that has had any trace of technical in it. (If you've not done any volunteer work, get to volunteering!)
- List any organizations you have been a member of and describe any of their activities that have any trace of technical in them. (If you've not belonged to any technically oriented organizations, get to belonging!)
- As with the resume, you can use formatting to spread what information you have to fill out the resume page.
In the example student application/cover letter below, notice that the writer describes his coursework and the applications that he used. His reference to a professional exposition shows an active interest in a particular technical area. Moreover, his visit with an employee of the company with which he seeks employment is a crafty form of name dropping.
Early-career application/cover letter . (Live Link as of February 2021) Use the strategies suggested here to fill your letter with good specific information.
Format
Formatting is important and must be neat and professional. It’s recommended that you flush all text to the left, as various software programs can wreak havoc with indentations and tabs.
Greeting
Put extra effort into identifying the name of the hiring manager, so that your letter can be appropriately addressed to the specific person who will be reviewing résumés. Employers do not make this an easy step for you, and you have to do your research. Helpful exercises include researching the company website, reading news releases, and even calling the company to ask. Laziness will hurt your job search effort if this special effort is not made. If, after doing all the preceding, you still do not know the name of the person to whom you are sending your information, by all means, address it using Dear Hiring Manager or Dear Recruiter.
References
Pull from the information in the resume section since the link covers resumes and cover letters together. Just separate them.
Networking
A great way to meet people and market yourself is through networking. A long time ago, people would network at events in person. This was a great way to talk to someone give your "elevator speech" and get to know them. People would exchange business cards and it could lead to job opportunities. Now in the digital age, people network a bit differently. There are still events you can attend; however, you can do most of your networking through social media. Many employers now have links to Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter. These are platforms that allow you to connect with people and post job opportunities. I piece of advice, it is important to be careful of what you put on social media as employers will look at your social media to determine if you are a fit for their organization. There is much debate if employers should be allowed to use these platforms to determine employment. So, make sure to keep your social media neutral, so that you are not denied employment because of your post or pictures. In addition, you need to have your information current and up-to-date. If you have been hesitant to use social media, try it out and see the opportunities that might exist out there.
- Readability and white space —Are there any dense paragraphs over 8 lines? Are there comfortable 1-inch to 1.5-inch margins all the way around the letter? Is there adequate spacing between paragraphs and between the components of the letter?
- Page fill —Is the letter placed on the page nicely: not crammed at the top one-half of the page; not spilling over to a second page by only three or four lines?
- General neatness, professional-looking quality —Is the letter on good quality paper, and is the copy clean and free of smudges and erasures?
- Proper use of the business-letter format —Have you set up the letter in one of the standard business-letter formats? (See the references earlier in this chapter.)
- Overt, direct indication of the connection between your background and the requirements of the job —Do you emphasize this connection?
- A good upbeat, positive tone —Is the tone of your letter bright and positive? Does it avoid sounding overly aggressive, brash, over-confident (unless that is really the tone you want)? Does your letter avoid the opposite problem of sounding stiff, overly reserved, stand-offish, blasé, indifferent?
- A good introduction —Does your introduction establish the purpose of the letter? Does it avoid diving directly into the details of your work and educational experience? Do you present one little compelling detail about yourself that will cause the reader to want to keep reading?
- A good balance between brevity and details —Does your letter avoid becoming too detailed (making readers less inclined to read thoroughly)? Does your letter avoid the opposite extreme of being so general that it could refer to practically anybody?
- Lots of specifics (dates, numbers, names, etc.) —Does your letter present plenty of specific detail but without making the letter too densely detailed? Do you present hard factual details (numbers, dates, proper names) that make you stand out as an individual?
- A minimum of information that is simply your opinion of yourself —Do you avoid over-reliance on information that is simply your opinions about yourself? For example, instead of saying that you "work well with others," do you cite work experience that proves that fact but without actually stating it?
- Grammar, spelling, usage —And of course, does your letter use correct grammar, usage, and spelling?
The job search process can feel overwhelming. Remember to start with researching what type of job you are looking for to start your career or move into a different journey. Once you have found some jobs that fit where you are in your career, take a look at the job description and note how your experiences fit what the employer is looking for in their position. You want to make sure your cover/application letter covers those points highlighted in the job description. Your resume will either be functional or chronological. You will gear your resume towards the job in which you are applying. You might have multiple versions of your resume based on the types of jobs you are applying. Be creative and make your resume and cover letter stand out. Employers have many job applications packages to review, so you want to make sure they look at it and pick you for an interview.
This work “English 145 Technical & Report Writing” by Amber Kinonen from Bay College and Resumes Show 'em how good you are by David McMurrey, used under a CC BY license. "Job Application Materials" is licensed under CC BY 4.0 by Lise-Pauline Barnett.


12.4E: Exercises
-
- Last updated
- Save as PDF
Section 10.3 Exercises
Practice Makes Perfect
Exercise \(\PageIndex{21}\) Convert Between Exponential and Logarithmic Form
In the following exercises, convert from exponential to logarithmic form.
- \(4^{2}=16\)
- \(2^{5}=32\)
- \(3^{3}=27\)
- \(5^{3}=125\)
- \(10^{3}=1000\)
- \(10^{-2}=\frac{1}{100}\)
- \(x^{\frac{1}{2}}=\sqrt{3}\)
- \(x^{\frac{1}{3}}=\sqrt[3]{6}\)
- \(32^{x}=\sqrt[4]{32}\)
- \(17^{x}=\sqrt[5]{17}\)
- \(\left(\frac{1}{4}\right)^{2}=\frac{1}{16}\)
- \(\left(\frac{1}{3}\right)^{4}=\frac{1}{81}\)
- \(3^{-2}=\frac{1}{9}\)
- \(4^{-3}=\frac{1}{64}\)
- \(e^{x}=6\)
- \(e^{3}=x\)
- Answer
-
2. \(\log _{2} 32=5\)
4. \(\log _{5} 125=3\)
6. \(\log \frac{1}{100}=-2\)
8. \(\log _{x} \sqrt[3]{6}=\frac{1}{3}\)
10. \(\log _{17} \sqrt[5]{17}=x\)
12. \(\log _{\frac{1}{3}} \frac{1}{81}=4\)
14. \(\log _{4} \frac{1}{64}=-3\)
16. \(\ln x=3\)
Exercise \(\PageIndex{22}\) Convert Between Exponential and Logarithmic Form
In the following exercises, convert each logarithmic equation to exponential form.
- \(3=\log _{4} 64\)
- \(6=\log _{2} 64\)
- \(4=\log _{x} 81\)
- \(5=\log _{x} 32\)
- \(0=\log _{12} 1\)
- \(0=\log _{7} 1\)
- \(1=\log _{3} 3\)
- \(1=\log _{9} 9\)
- \(-4=\log _{10} \frac{1}{10,000}\)
- \(3=\log _{10} 1,000\)
- \(5=\log _{e} x\)
- \(x=\log _{e} 43\)
- Answer
-
2. \(64=2^{6}\)
4. \(32=x^{5}\)
6. \(1=7^{0}\)
8. \(9=9^{1}\)
10. \(1,000=10^{3}\)
12. \(43=e^{x}\)
Exercise \(\PageIndex{23}\) Evaluate Logarithmic Functions
In the following exercises, find the value of \(x\) in each logarithmic equation.
- \(\log _{x} 49=2\)
- \(\log _{x} 121=2\)
- \(\log _{x} 27=3\)
- \(\log _{x} 64=3\)
- \(\log _{3} x=4\)
- \(\log _{5} x=3\)
- \(\log _{2} x=-6\)
- \(\log _{3} x=-5\)
- \(\log _{\frac{1}{4}} \frac{1}{16}=x\)
- \(\log _{\frac{1}{3}} \frac{1}{9}=x\)
- \(\log _{\frac{1}{4}} 64=x\)
- \(\log _{\frac{1}{9}} 81=x\)
- Answer
-
2. \(x=11\)
4. \(x=4\)
6. \(x=125\)
8. \(x=\frac{1}{243}\)
10. \(x=2\)
12. \(x=-2\)
Exercise \(\PageIndex{24}\) Evaluate Logarithmic Functions
In the following exercises, find the exact value of each logarithm without using a calculator.
- \(\log _{7} 49\)
- \(\log _{6} 36\)
- \(\log _{4} 1\)
- \(\log _{5} 1\)
- \(\log _{16} 4\)
- \(\log _{27} 3\)
- \(\log _{\frac{1}{2}} 2\)
- \(\log _{\frac{1}{2}} 4\)
- \(\log _{2} \frac{1}{16}\)
- \(\log _{3} \frac{1}{27}\)
- \(\log _{4} \frac{1}{16}\)
- \(\log _{9} \frac{1}{81}\)
- Answer
-
2. \(2\)
4. \(0\)
6. \(\frac{1}{3}\)
8. \(-2\)
10. \(-3\)
12. \(-2\)
Exercise \(\PageIndex{25}\) Graph Logarithmic Functions
In the following exercises, graph each logarithmic function.
- \(y=\log _{2} x\)
- \(y=\log _{4} x\)
- \(y=\log _{6} x\)
- \(y=\log _{7} x\)
- \(y=\log _{1.5} x\)
- \(y=\log _{2.5} x\)
- \(y=\log _{\frac{1}{3}} x\)
- \(y=\log _{\frac{1}{5}} x\)
- \(y=\log _{0.4} x\)
- \(y=\log _{0.6} x\)
- Answer
-
2.
4.
6.
8.
10.
Exercise \(\PageIndex{26}\) Solve Logarithmic Equations
In the following exercises, solve each logarithmic equation.
- \(\log _{a} 16=2\)
- \(\log _{a} 81=2\)
- \(\log _{a} 8=3\)
- \(\log _{a} 27=3\)
- \(\log _{a} 32=2\)
- \(\log _{a} 24=3\)
- \(\ln x=5\)
- \(\ln x=4\)
- \(\log _{2}(5 x+1)=4\)
- \(\log _{2}(6 x+2)=5\)
- \(\log _{3}(4 x-3)=2\)
- \(\log _{3}(5 x-4)=4\)
- \(\log _{4}(5 x+6)=3\)
- \(\log _{4}(3 x-2)=2\)
- \(\ln e^{4 x}=8\)
- \(\ln e^{2 x}=6\)
- \(\log x^{2}=2\)
- \(\log \left(x^{2}-25\right)=2\)
- \(\log _{2}\left(x^{2}-4\right)=5\)
- \(\log _{3}\left(x^{2}+2\right)=3\)
- Answer
-
2. \(a=9\)
4. \(a=3\)
6. \(a=\sqrt[3]{24}\)
8. \(x=e^{4}\)
10. \(x=5\)
12. \(x=17\)
14. \(x=6\)
16. \(x=3\)
18. \(x=-5 \sqrt{5}, x=5 \sqrt{5}\)
20. \(x=-5, x=5\)
Exercise \(\PageIndex{27}\) Use Logarithmic Models in Applications
In the following exercises, use a logarithmic model to solve.
- What is the decibel level of normal conversation with intensity \(10^{−6}\) watts per square inch?
- What is the decibel level of a whisper with intensity \(10^{−10}\) watts per square inch?
- What is the decibel level of the noise from a motorcycle with intensity \(10^{−2}\) watts per square inch?
- What is the decibel level of the sound of a garbage disposal with intensity \(10^{−2}\) watts per square inch?
- In 2014, Chile experienced an intense earthquake with a magnitude of \(8.2\) on the Richter scale. In 2010, Haiti also experienced an intense earthquake which measured \(7.0\) on the Richter scale. Compare the intensities of the two earthquakes.
- The Los Angeles area experiences many earthquakes. In 1994, the Northridge earthquake measured magnitude of \(6.7\) on the Richter scale. In 2014, Los Angeles also experienced an earthquake which measured \(5.1\) on the Richter scale. Compare the intensities of the two earthquakes.
- Answer
-
2. A whisper has a decibel level of \(20\) dB.
4. The sound of a garbage disposal has a decibel level of \(100\) dB.
6. The intensity of the 1994 Northridge earthquake in the Los Angeles area was about \(40\) times the intensity of the 2014 earthquake.
Exercise \(\PageIndex{28}\) Writing Exercises
- Explain how to change an equation from logarithmic form to exponential form.
- Explain the difference between common logarithms and natural logarithms.
- Explain why \(\log _{a} a^{x}=x\).
- Explain how to find the \(\log _{7} 32\) on your calculator.
- Answer
-
2. Answers may vary
4. Answers may vary
Self Check
a. After completing the exercises, use this checklist to evaluate your mastery of the objectives of this section.
b. After reviewing this checklist, what will you do to become confident for all objectives?


35.2: Feminism in The Female American
On her journey to America, Unca Eliza told her cousin that “I would never marry any man who could not use a bow and arrow as well as I could,” (60). She later reverberates that statement to the captain of the ship, telling him that “if [his son] could shoot my bow and arrows, which then hung by me in the cabin, as well as I could, I would have him, were he ugly or handsome,” (62).
At first this sounds fantastic. Here is a female character taking agency for herself. She refuses to marry any man, no matter how advantageous for her and despite any true feelings of love/affection between her and whoever is proposing. She knows that she must get married, because of the time period it would be a scandal if she did not, but she wants to do it on her own terms. Which, again, is great.
The issue I find with her characterization in regards to her marriage is that she is made to be excessively masculine as she takes agency. She is a fighter, she uses weaponry that not many women are taught to use. Why does she have to be physically tough in order for her to have agency? Why can she not be a feminine woman wanting freedom?
The issue I see all the time, especially in this novel, is that when a female character is made to be a feminist, most of her “feminine” attributes are taken away. Why can’t a woman who loves to embroider choose her own husband? Or decide to not marry at all?
I’m not saying that masculine women are bad, or less of a woman for enjoying the things they do, and that Unca Eliza is a bad person for enjoying archery. What I am saying is that feminists can be more than what they are portrayed as being in literature.


8.12: Creating an Inclusive Environment
-
- Last updated
- Save as PDF
- Cindy Stephens, Gina Peterson, Sharon Eyrich, & Jennifer Paris
- College of the Canyons via College of the Canyons
In an Executive Summary, the U.S. Department of Education and Health and Human Services (2015) defines inclusion in early childhood programs as “including children with disabilities in early childhood programs together with their peers without disabilities, holding high expectations and intentionally promoting participation in all learning and social activities, facilitated by individualized accommodations, and using evidence-based services and supports to foster their cognitive, communication, physical, behavioral, and social-emotional development; friendships with peers; and sense of belonging. This applies to all young children with disabilities, from those with the mildest disabilities to those with the most significant disabilities.” [107] When planning your environment, be mindful that some of your children might require some additional considerations to fully participate in all the scheduled activities, routines, and learning experiences.
Partnering with families, some accommodations for children with special needs might include:
- Provide schedules with pictures for children who need visual reminders of the daily sequence of activities.
- Be flexible with the schedule; allow children more time to complete transitions and activities as needed
- Have alternative activities for those children with medical conditions or physical impairments who might have less stamina and tire more easily across the day.
- Pair children up to help each other during transitions.
- Allow for regular breaks.
- Partner with families to coordinate the child’s daily schedule and routines, and to communicate progress.
- Modify chairs to meet children’s needs (you can use tennis balls on the bottom of the chair for noise control or to make the chairs slide more easily)
- Put carpet squares, cushions, or a tape line on the floor to indicate where children should sit or stand
- Modify materials to make them easier for children with motor difficulties to hold and use (e.g., using pencil grips, large knobs)
- Provide specialized equipment (e.g., built-up handled spoons, adaptive scissors) to help children be more independent
Pause to Reflect
Can you see how we might make accommodations for a certain child that might benefit other children or the entire group? All children have needs that are special and we plan for each to help them feel safe, comfortable, and included.


5.3: Basics of Plate Tectonics
INTRODUCTION
The theory of plate tectonics revolutionized geology in the 1960s. By 1970, college geology majors were taught a set of ideas that were unheard of by most geology students prior to 1960. The foundation for the new way of comprehending earth processes is the understanding that the outer layer of the earth is the lithosphere rather than simply the crust.
THE LAYERS OF THE EARTH
The earth is layered in terms of chemical composition as follows:
- The outer layer is the crust. Continental crust is thick (25–50 km thick), low in density, and has an intermediate average composition; oceanic crust is thin (typically 5–10 km thick), higher in density, and has a mafic average composition.
- The mantle consists of dense, ultramafic rock.
- The core consists of a mixture of iron and nickel.
The earth is also layered in terms of physical or mechanical behavior. In those terms, the outer layer of the earth is the lithosphere, which is a rigid layer that is broken up into tectonic plates and averages about 100 km (60 miles) thick. The layer beneath the lithosphere is the weak, soft asthenosphere, which is roughly 300 to 400 km thick. To understand plate tectonics, the different ways of classifying the layers of the earth-by composition and by mechanical behavior-must be kept in mind.
THE THEORY OF PLATE TECTONICS
Plate tectonic theory allowed geologists to understand the origins of and the relationships between: the world’s volcanic arcs and deep earthquake zones; exotic terranes and thrust fault zones; and transform faults and shallow earthquake zones. Plate tectonics also enabled geologists to explain the origins of the oceanic crust and the continents.
According to plate tectonic theory, the lithosphere is divided into rigid plates that interact with one another at their boundaries. Earthquakes, faults, and folds take place at these boundaries. Voluminous igneous intrusions and frequent volcanic eruptions occur at two of the major types of plate boundaries. In sum, most (though not all) of the earthquakes and volcanic eruptions that take place in the world happen in association with plate boundaries. Much of the action in geology that gets peoples’ attention—volcanic eruptions, devastating earthquakes—happens because of how plates interact with each other along their boundaries.
The Pacific Northwest lies near the boundaries of several tectonic plates. The influence of these plates and their boundary interactions underlies the major geological themes of the region, including the uplift of the Coast Ranges, the formation of the Puget-Willamette Lowland, and the volcanism of the Cascade Range. Plate boundary processes also explain how most of the land of Washington and Oregon has come to be part of North America in the last 200 million years. Prior to the addition of continent the area west of Idaho was an ocean basin.
PALEOMAGNETISM
The earth, as you know, has a magnetic field. Some types of rock, when they originate, record the magnetism of the earth at the time the rock formed. This happens because magnetic minerals in the rock orient themselves, like little compasses, in the direction of the earth’s magnetic field, then are locked in place as the rock is lithified. After the rock has formed, as long as it does not get heated up to nearly its melting point—as long as it does not get above what is called the Curie point, the temperature at which the magnetism in the minerals is destroyed—it will retain that record of the earth’s magnetism at the time the rock formed. This provides the basis of paleomagnetism, the study of the magnetic record of the earth preserved in the rocks. Paelomagnetism has been a key for unlocking much of our modern knowledge of the geology of earth, especially the theory of plate tectonics.
The Magnetic North Pole on earth today is in far northern Canada, only approximately in the direction of the Geographic North Pole. The Geographic North Pole, which is also called the True North Pole, is the northern end of earth’s axis of rotation. The Geographic or True North Pole is not the same thing as the Magnetic North Pole and should not be mistaken for it. The Geographic North Pole is is at 90° N latitude, at the very top of the earth. The Magnetic North Pole is currently at about 85° latitude, but it wanders up to a degree every few years.
The magnetism of earth is created by convection and other movements of earth’s outer core. The outer core consists of hot, molten metal, mostly iron and nickel, in which many of the electrons move about freely among the atoms. The daily spinning around of this sea of molten metal and its virtually free electrons, combined with the convection of the molten core, creates the magnetic field of the earth. Unlike the magnetism of a bar magnet, the earth’s magnetic field is not very stable. The location of the Magnetic North Pole wanders many miles every year. Even more amazing, every several hundred thousand to several million years, the magnetism produced by earth’s core becomes so unstable, or “tangled up,” that it ends up reversing its north and south magnetic poles. There is no regular timing to when the earth’s magnetic field reverses itself. The last magnetic reversal was 780,000 years ago.
By the way, earth’s magnetic field is not very powerful in terms of its direct effects on living things. If it shut down right now, you would not feel anything. If you have played with bar magnets or touched old-fashioned televisions with cathode-ray tubes—the common type of TV and computer monitor before flat screens—while they were turned on, then you have been exposed to much more powerful magnetism than the earth’s magnetism, yet you did not feel that much stronger magnetism, either. As far as the geological record indicates, no species have gone extinct at any of the times when earth’s magnetic field reversed itself.
These reversals of the magnetic field of earth, and how long ago they took place, have been detected and measured from many rocks in the earth that preserve a record of the earth’s magnetism, including igneous rocks and sedimentary rocks from the floor of the ocean. Basalt flows are the strongest recorders of the earth’s magnetism, but other types of igneous rock and certain types of sedimentary rock also record earth’s magnetic field as they form. The ocean floor consists largely of basalt flows, which provide a strong enough record of earth’s paleomagnetism that it can be measured from a ship passing above. The ocean floor contains many layers of sediment and sedimentary rock that are relatively easy to recover from drill cores, which also recorded the magnetic field when they originated. Igneous and sedimentary rocks from the continents have also been used, along with fossil records, to study earth’s magnetic past.
Together, these various ways of studying paleomagnetism have verified and refined our knowledge of how the magnetic poles have wandered in the past, and when each reversal of earth’s magnetic field has taken place. This has allowed us to construct a timeline of magnetic reversals over the course of earth’s history. The accuracy and precision of the magnetic reversal timeline becomes much weaker for geologic ages more than about 200 Ma (millions of years ago). This is because nearly all older ocean floor has been subducted (recycled) back into the earth, and the paleomagnetic record from rocks on the continents is spottier—less continuous—than the paleomagnetic record derived from measurements of oceanic crust.
The paleomagnetism of rocks on the floor of the ocean was the key to unlocking the theory of sea floor spreading, an essential component of the theory of plate tectonics. As oceanic crust forms at the divergent plate boundaries and spreads away from there, it acts like a magnetic tape recorder, spreading a record of earth’s magnetism across the ocean floor. The magnetic reversals recorded in rocks on the ocean floor are still called magnetic anomalies because, when they were first discovered in the 1950s, neither sea floor spreading nor the fact that earth’s magnetic field has often reversed itself was yet realized. By knowing how long ago a particular magnetic reversal occurred, along with the distance of that magnetic isochron to the ridge where it originated, you can determine the rate at which the plate has been spreading away from the ridge. This is done by dividing the distance from the isochron to the ridge, by the number of years that have passed since that magnetic reversal occurred. In addition, the direction in which a plate has been moving can also be determined by analyzing the map patterns of its magnetic anomalies on the ocean floor.
Similarly, the paleomagnetism of rocks on the continents has been the key to unlocking continental drift, another building block of the theory of plate tectonics. The paleomagnetism of rocks on the continents is used to reconstruct the motions of continents across the face of the earth.
Paleomagnetism has also been one of the keys to unlocking the origins of many accreted terranes. If a part of a continent is suspected of being an accreted terrane, and it contains rocks with measurable paleomagnetism, the paleomagnetism may determine if the rocks did indeed originate far from their present-day location, on a tectonic plate separate from the continent, only to be moved in and accreted to the continent later. See also, the Basics page on Exotic Terranes.
PLATE BOUNDARIES
There are three general types of plate boundaries:
- divergent plate boundaries, where two plates move away from each other
- transform plate boundaries, where two plates move horizontally side-by-side in opposite directions
- convergent plate boundaries, where two plates move toward each other and either collide with each other or one plate bends down and goes beneath the other
Divergent Plate Boundaries
Most of the world’s divergent plate boundaries are on the ocean floor, in the form of mid-ocean spreading ridge. At divergent boundaries, the two plates are continually moving apart, heading in opposite directions away from each other. The divergence causes normal faults and rift valleys (grabens) to form there as a result of the tension in the crust. In other words, in response to getting pulled apart by tectonic forces, the crust cracks apart and sections of it drop down into rift valleys.
At a divergent plate boundary, the spreading crust forms channels through which magma rises from the mantle. Some of the magma erupts on the ocean floor and builds up piles of pillow basalt. Some of it solidifies within the cracks, beneath the surface of the crust, forming igneousdikes. Some of it solidifies as gabbro intrusions deeper in the crust. At the places where the magma pools within the crust, olivine and other dense minerals settle into layers at the bottom of the pools and form layered mafic and ultramafic igneous rocks.
All these eruptions and intrusions solidify and become new oceanic crust, which moves away from the mid-ocean spreading ridge and makes way for yet more magma to rise and continue the process. Creation of oceanic crust is part of a continual process that occurs at divergent plate boundaries on the ocean floor. The new oceanic crust is part of a moving tectonic plate. It continues to move as part of the ocean floor and will eventually collect layers of sediment descending from the water above.
Transform Plate Boundaries
Transform plate boundaries are strike-slip faults that separate tectonic plates which are moving parallel to each other but in opposite directions. Tectonic plates average about 100 km in thickness. As the two plates slide next to each other, trying to move in opposite directions, there is much friction and stress between them. As a result, transform plate boundaries are zones of frequent earthquakes.
Most transform plate boundaries are on the ocean floor, in the oceanic crust, connecting segments of mid-ocean spreading ridges. However, in a few places transform plate boundaries cut through continental crust. The most famous example is the San Andreas Fault in California, which is a transform plate boundary that separates the North American Plate from the Pacific Plate.
Convergent Plate Boundaries
Convergent plate boundaries are where two plates move toward each other. Subduction is a process that occurs at convergent plate boundaries. The western part of the Pacific Northwest is at a convergent plate boundary, and the effects of subduction have reached all the way across the Rocky Mountains to the edge of the Great Plains.
Depending on the type of crust that composes the upper part of each plate, there are three types of convergent plate boundaries: continent-continent, ocean-ocean, and ocean-continent.
Continent-Continent Convergent Plate Boundaries
Continental crust is too low in density to go down into the mantle and stay there. Continent-continent convergent plate boundaries are not zones of subduction in the normal sense. Instead, the two continents collide with each other, folding, thrust faulting, and building upward into a high, wide mountain range. The Himalayas in south central Asia are an example of a continent-continent convergent plate boundary.
Although large earthquakes occur in association with continent-continent convergent plate boundaries there are no volcanoes. Mountain ranges such as the Himalayas do not have volcanoes because there is no oceanic plate subducting beneath them.
Ocean-Ocean Convergent Plate Boundaries
At ocean-ocean convergent plate boundaries, as the two plates with oceanic crust converge, one goes down beneath the other and into the mantle. This zone where a plate is diving back down into the mantle, beneath the edge of the adjacent plate, is called a subduction zone.
The outer edge of a subduction zone is an oceanic trench, which forms where the subducting plate bends and pushes downward as it enters the subduction process. Oceanic trenches at ocean-ocean subduction zones are the deepest places in the ocean. Island arcs, which are composite cone volcanoes arrayed in the form of an island chain, are also associated with ocean-ocean convergent plate boundaries. The Aleutian Islands of Alaska are an example of an island arc.
Ocean-Continent Convergent Plate Boundaries
At an ocean-continent convergent plate boundary, the plate that carries oceanic crust subducts into the mantle beneath the edge of the continent. Ocean-continent convergent plate boundaries are similar to ocean-ocean subduction zones, but the much thicker continental crust leads to a greater range of geological features, including a volcanic arc that forms above the region in the crust at which the subducting plate reaches a depth of 65 to 80 miles beneath the surface and an accretionary complex.
| Type | Examples | Landforms | Geologic Processes |
|---|---|---|---|
|
ocean-ocean |
|
|
|
| ocean-continent |
|
|
|
| continent-continent |
|
|
|
SUBDUCTION ZONES
Because the convergent plate boundary along the Northwest coast is a subduction zone, we need to examine the parts of a subduction zone in a little more detail.
The Oceanic Trench
Most subduction zones start at an oceanic trench, where the subducting plate begins the process of bending and pushing downward. The apparent lack of an oceanic trench off the Northwest coast is an anomaly. To some extent, there may be a trench that has been filled in with the abundant sediments dumped onto the continental shelf by the Columbia River and other rivers that drain to the Pacific Coast.
Deep Earthquakes (Subduction Earthquakes)
Another characteristic of subduction zones is that they have major earthquakes that occur within the subducting plate, as it forces its way down into the mantle. The most powerful earthquakes on earth are these earthquakes in subducting plates. The stress of the subduction process also causes shallower earthquakes to take place in the continental crust [GLOSS] of the overlying plate.
The Accretionary Complex
At ocean-continent subduction zones, the leading edge of the continent is the site of an accretionary complex, also called an accretionary prism or accretionary wedge. An accretionary complex is an elevated zone built up of pieces of oceanic crust or lithosphere that were accreted from the subducting plate onto the edge of the continent along reverse faults. Accretionary complexes tend to build up high enough to form coastal mountain ranges. However, unlike the main volcanic arc mountain range, accretionary complex coast ranges are not volcanic.
The Forearc Basin
Between the accretionary mountain range and the volcanic arc is the forearc basin, a low area into which rivers drain and which may contain an arm of the ocean.
The Volcanic Arc
All subduction zones have, at some distance in from the edge of the upper plate, arcs or chains of composite cone volcanoes. The subducting plate, as it goes down deep into the mantle, releases water. This changes the chemistry of the already hot rocks in the mantle and causes them to melt, forming magma. The magma is less dense than the solid rocks around it, so it rises upward, culminating in volcanic eruptions at the earth’s surface.
The volcanic arc at an ocean-continent subduction zone is not only a chain of volcanoes. The stress of plate convergence compresses the crust there, causing it to thicken through a combination of folds and thrust faults. Igneous intrusions and volcanic eruptions also thicken the crust there. Deep within the crust, the igneous intrusions solidify into batholiths of rocks such as granite, and the pre-existing rocks that are intruded by the batholiths are regionally metamorphosed into new rocks. The result is a high mountain range with granitic and metamorphic rock at its core, folded and faulted sedimentary and volcanic around its margins, and a chain of composite cone volcanoes distributed along the crest of the range.
Terrane Accretion
A large tectonic plate, such as the Pacific Plate, carries more than oceanic crust. It also carries island arcs and oceanic plateaus, which are zones of unusually thick oceanic crust. Large island complexes such as the islands of Japan, which were built by the assemblage of several island arcs, also ride on tectonic plates. Other plate passengers include ocean islands such as the Hawaiian Islands, which build from volcanic eruptions that emanate from mantle hot spots.
As the oceanic plate carrying these larger pieces of crust comes into an ocean-continent subduction zone, the island arcs, oceanic plateaus, island complexes, and oceanic islands will not go down the subduction zone. Instead, they will be plastered to the edge of the continent, becoming accreted terranes. Examples of all these types of crust, swept in and accreted to North America by a subducting oceanic plate, can be found in the Pacific Northwest.
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
- What skill does this content help you develop?
- What are the key topics covered in this content?
- How can the content in this section help you demonstrate mastery of a specific skill?
- What questions do you have about this content?
Contributors and Attributions
-
Original content from Kimberly Schulte (Columbia Basin College) and supplemented by Lumen Learning . The content on this page is copyrighted under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.


4.4: Negative Feedback Loop
By the end of this section, you should be able to:
- 4.4.1 Define negative feedback loops as they relate to homeostasis.
- 4.4.2 Describe homeostatic responses within the body.
- 4.4.3 Explain positive feedback.
Feedback loops provide a mechanism for the body to maintain homeostasis. Feedback loops include negative feedback , the homeostatic response system , and positive feedback .
Negative Feedback and Homeostasis
Negative feedback is critical in regulating the body’s homeostasis to promote optimal health and well-being. These inhibitory loops allow the body to self-regulate by counteracting any deviation from normal conditions. The process begins with an increase in output from a body system, leading to higher levels of specific proteins or hormones. This increase subsequently triggers the homeostatic response system to inhibit or reverse the production of those proteins or hormones, preventing their levels from rising further. The body thus reduces the number of these proteins or hormones, maintaining a balance within the normal physiologic limits (Chakravarty et al., 2023; Molnar & Gair, n.d.). An example of negative feedback within the body is depicted in Figure 4.6.
Homeostatic Response System
The homeostatic response system is a biological structure that is in a constant state of flux because of external and internal factors that push the body’s systems away from equilibrium. The homeostatic response system is vital for maintaining a stable internal environment. When the body experiences a stimulus, such as an elevated body temperature, a neuron (nerve cell) within the brain acts as a receptor or sensor, relaying the message to the control center, which may be the hypothalamus, pituitary gland, or nervous system. The control center then activates effectors, whose role is to counteract the stimulus, thereby restoring homeostasis (see Figure 4.6) (Libretti & Puckett, 2023). In this way, the homeostatic response system enables the body to adjust to changing conditions and maintain stability.
Positive Feedback
In positive feedback, the body responds to a stimulus by amplifying or enhancing it rather than inhibiting it. This mechanism leads to a continuous increase in the stimulus, also known as a runaway effect, creating a self-reinforcing cycle. Positive feedback loops are commonly found in processes that require rapid and decisive responses, such as:
-
Blood clotting
- When an injury occurs, platelets in the blood stick to the damaged area and release chemical signals that attract more platelets. This recruitment of platelets leads to the formation of a blood clot, which further activates more platelets and reinforces the clotting process.
-
Lactation
- During lactation, the mechanical stimulation of nerve endings in the breast signals the posterior pituitary gland to release oxytocin, which stimulates the contraction of myoepithelial cells within the breast. As breast milk is released, the sucking action of the infant continues, and this further stimulates the nerve endings in the breast, creating a positive feedback loop.
-
Uterine contraction during childbirth
- During childbirth, the pressure of the newborn against the cervix and the tissue of the pelvic floor causes contraction of the uterus, which then results in the release of oxytocin, which stimulates stronger contractions. As contractions intensify, more oxytocin is released, resulting in positive feedback until the infant is delivered (Libretti & Puckett, 2023).
Nonetheless, when not properly regulated, positive feedback loops may give rise to instability and potentially adverse consequences.
Link to Learning
In this video, Dr. Mike Todorovic, senior lecturer of anatomy and physiology at Griffith University, Queensland, Australia, discusses the importance of homeostasis and explains the negative and positive feedback loops.


7.1: The Unit Circle
The core concepts of trigonometry are developed from a circle with radius equal to \(1\) unit, drawn in the \(xy\)-coordinate plane, centered at the origin. This circle is given a name: the unit circle (Figure \(7.1.1\) below). Just like a \(12\)-hour clock with values of time from \(1\) to \(12\), trigonometric functions are periodic, meaning the same values are reproduced with each \(360˚\) revolution.
An angle is in standard position (see Figure \(7.1.2\) above) if its initial side is along the positive \(x\)-axis and its vertex is at the origin : point \((0,0)\). The following angles are in standard position. An angle that rotates in the counter-clockwise direction is a positive angle . An angle that rotates in the clockwise direction is a negative angle .
Coterminal Angles
Two or more standard angles that share common terminal sides are said to be coterminal angles . For example, \(30˚\) and \(390˚\) are coterminal angles.
More formally: Every angle \(B\) is coterminal with angle \(A\) where \(B = A + 360˚k\), \(k =\) any integer.
The expression \(315˚ + 360˚k\) gives the angles coterminal with \(315˚\). State the coterminal angles the equation generates using the following \(k\)-values: \(k = −2, −1, 1, 2\). Then sketch the angles.
Solution
We substitute the given \(k\)-values into the expression \(315˚ + 360˚k\).
| \(k = -2\) | \(k = -1\) | \(k = 1\) | \(k = 2\) |
| \(315˚ + 360˚(\textcolor{red}{-2}) = -405˚\) | \(315˚ + 360˚(\textcolor{red}{-1}) = -45˚\) | \(315˚ + 360˚(\textcolor{red}{1}) = -675˚\) | \(315˚ + 360˚(\textcolor{red}{2}) = 1035˚\) |
Below, the angles are sketched. Do you see that each angle shares the same terminal side? All four angles are coterminal with \(315˚\), and coterminal with each other.
Circle Centered at the Origin
Every ordered pair \((x, y)\) on a circle is associated with a right triangle. The right triangle has horizontal distance \(x\), vertical distance \(y\), and hypotenuse = radius = \(r\).
The equation of a circle of radius \(r\) centered at the origin:
\[x^2 + y^2 = r^2\]
Note: the \(x\)-coordinate and the \(y\)-coordinate can take on negative values, depending on the quadrant of the terminal side of the angle.
Find the \(y\)-coordinate of point A \(\left(−\dfrac{5}{9} , y \right)\) if point A lies in QIII on the unit circle.
Solution
The unit circle has radius \(r = 1\). Trigonometry weds algebra and geometry with visual sketches. Create a sketch before jumping into a solution. This helps you see the answer.
\(\begin{array} &\left(−\dfrac{5}{9}\right)^2 + y^2 &= 1^2 &\text{Substitute \(x = −\dfrac{5}{9}\) and \(r = 1\) into equation of a circle.} \\ \dfrac{25}{81} + y^2 &= 1 &\text{Simplify.} \\ y^2 &= 1 − \dfrac{25}{81} &\text{Subtract \(\dfrac{25}{81}\) to each side.} \\ y^2 &= \dfrac{81}{81} − \dfrac{25}{81} &\text{Find the LCD.} \\ y^2 &= \dfrac{56}{81} &\text{Simplify.} \\ \sqrt{y^2} &= ±\sqrt{\dfrac{56}{81}} &\text{Square root both sides.} \\ y &= − \dfrac{\sqrt{56}}{9} &\text{Choose the correct sign value. \(y < 0\) in QIII.} \\ y &= − \dfrac{2\sqrt{14}}{9} &\text{Simplify the radical.} \end{array}\)
Special Right Triangles
Using the Pythagorean Theorem, one can drive the following two templates for special right triangles: \(45˚\)-\(45˚\)-\(90˚\) triangles and \(30˚\)-\(60˚\)-\(90˚\) triangles.
Since right triangles and circles are inextricably tied to each other, the acute angles \(30˚\), \(45˚\), \(60˚\) are frequently useful for finding exact values in trigonometry; these solutions do not require the use of a calculator.
Examples of special right triangles and their solutions, can be viewed in these videos:
Try It! (Exercises)
For #1-5, draw the angle \(\theta\) in standard position.
- \(\theta = 210˚\)
- \(\theta = −300˚\)
- \(\theta = 150˚\)
- \(\theta = 270˚\)
- \(\theta = −135˚\)
For #6-10, state any two angles coterminal with the given angle \(\theta\). Give one positive coterminal angle and one negative coterminal angle.
- \(\theta = 30˚\)
- \(\theta = 60˚\)
- \(\theta = 90˚\)
- \(\theta = 180˚\)
- \(\theta = 240˚\)
For #11-15, state the equation of the circle with the given radius.
- \(r = 4\)
- \(r = \dfrac{1}{2}\)
- \(r = 3 \sqrt{2}\)
- \(r = \dfrac{\sqrt{6}}{2}\)
- \(r = \sqrt{\dfrac{101}{62}}\)
- Fill in the blanks: A unit circle is a circle with \(\underline{\;\;\;\;\;\;\;\;\;\;}\) equal to one unit. The circle is centered at \(\underline{\;\;\;\;\;\;\;\;\;\;}\). The circle has equation: \(\underline{\;\;\;\;\;\;\;\;\;\;}\).
For #17-24, The given point lies on a circle with given radius and terminal side in the given quadrant. Find the missing coordinate of the given ordered pair.
| Point on Circle | Radius | Quadrant in which \(\theta\) terminates. |
|---|---|---|
| 17. \((2, y)\) | \(r = 5\) | \(\theta ∈\) QI |
| 18. \((x, \sqrt{6})\) | \(r = 3\) | \(\theta ∈\) QII |
| 19. \((−3\sqrt{7}, y)\) | \(r = \sqrt{77}\) | \(\theta ∈\) QIII |
| 20. \((x, −4\sqrt{5})\) | \(r = 3\sqrt{15}\) | \(\theta ∈\) QIV |
| 21. \(\left( \dfrac{3}{4} , y \right)\) | \(r=1\) | \(\theta ∈\) QI |
| 22. \(\left(x, \dfrac{3}{16} \right)\) | \(r=1\) | \(\theta ∈\) QII |
| 23. \(\left(− \dfrac{\sqrt{5}}{4} , y \right)\) | \(r=1\) | \(\theta ∈\) QIII |
| 24. \(\left(x, − \dfrac{3\sqrt{2}}{8} \right)\) | \(r=1\) | \(\theta ∈\) QIV |
For #25-29, find the fraction of a full revolution. Then sketch the angle.
- \(\dfrac{1}{4} \cdot 360˚\)
- \(\dfrac{1}{2} \cdot 360˚\)
- \(\dfrac{3}{4} \cdot 360˚\)
- \(\dfrac{1}{8} \cdot 360˚\)
- \(\dfrac{1}{6} \cdot 360˚\)
For #30-35, solve for the \(2\) missing side lengths. Give exact answers. No calculators.
For #36-38, Find the coordinates of the ordered pair \((x, y)\) on the unit circle with the given standard angle. Use special right triangle relationships. Give exact values of \(x\) and \(y\).


16.9: Portfolio- The Academic and the Personal
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
- Reflect on the development of composing processes and how those processes affect your work.
- Identify your strengths in writing and consider how to continue to develop your writing process.
Reflective Writing: Genres of Reflective Writing
Reflective writing is not limited to a single genre. Because it is highly personal, it is most frequent in, but certainly not limited to, diaries, journals, autobiographies, and memoirs. One common way that it appears is in letters or essays that writers craft to reflect on, or think about, their writing process for a particular text they have written. Consider the following suggestions when you write reflectively about this assignment for your ongoing portfolio compilation:
- Write this letter, essay, or response as you would to a friend—be kind to yourself and your process, but be realistic as well.
- Highlight what you think are your present capabilities and what you would like to strengthen.
- Specifically discuss and illustrate—by giving specific examples—how well you have met the assignment objectives listed under Evaluation: Self-Directed Assessment.
To guide your portfolio reflection, answer these questions:
- What did you learn about yourself and/or the writing process in the course of writing your textual analysis?
- What did you learn about the topic and/or about writing in general?
- Which part of the writing process was most beneficial to you: drafting, peer review, conferences, or something else?
- How successfully did you address the assignment guidelines?
- How might you change your writing process to better support your growth as a writer—for example, time management, change in drafting methods, more focus on rubric, extended research, more focus on the final draft before submission?
Further Reading
George, Diana. “Changing the Face of Poverty: Nonprofits and the Problem of Representation.” Popular Literacy: Studies in Cultural Practices and Poetics , edited by John Trimbur, University of Pittsburgh Press, 2001.
Gill, Isabelle. “Feminist Figures or Damsels in Distress? The Media’s Gendered Misrepresentation of Disney Princesses.” Young Scholars in Writing , vol. 13, 2016, youngscholarsinwriting.org/index.php/ysiw/article/ view/230/230.
“Rhetorical Analysis of ‘Fish Cheeks’ by Amy Tan.” Bartleby Research . www.bartleby.com/essay/Rhetorical-Analysis-Of-Fish-Cheeks-PY2JSYU9ZW6
Safire, William. “A Spirit Reborn.” New York Times , 9 Sept. 2002, www.nytimes.com/2002/09/09/opinion/a-spirit-reborn.html.
Smith, Steven B. “Empowering Word.” New York Times , 2 July 2014, www.nytimes.com/2014/07/06/books/ review/our-declaration-by-danielle-allen.html
Works Cited
Chopin, Kate. “The Storm.” 1898. American Literature.com , 2018, americanliterature.com/author/kate-chopin/short-story/the-storm.
Hooks, Bell. Rapture Remembered: The Writer at Work . Holt Paperbacks, 1999.
Krakauer, Jon. Into the Wild . Anchor Books, 1997.
Onori, P. J. “In Defense of Hard: When Easier Isn’t Better.” Lifehacker , 12 May 2011, lifehacker.com/5800882/ in-defense-of-hard-why-easy-isnt-always-the-best-answer. Accessed 12 Jan. 2019.
Smitherman, Geneva, and Victor Villanueva, editors. Language Diversity in the Classroom: From Intention to Practice . Southern Illinois UP, 2003.
“Students’ Right to Their Own Language.” College Composition and Communication , vol. 25, 1974, www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Groups/CCCC/NewSRTOL.pdf.
Thoreau, Henry David. Walden and “On the Duty of Civil Disobedience.” 1854; 1894. E-book, Project Gutenberg , 1995, www.gutenberg.org/files/205/205-h/205-h.htm.
Wallace, David L. “Alternative Rhetoric and Morality: Writing from the Margins.” College Composition and Communication , vol. 61, no. 2, 2009, pp. 18-39. http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFile...rces/Journals/ CCC/0612-dec09/CCC0612Alternative.pdf.


3.1: Overview and Purpose
Overview and Purpose
Students will observe single gene traits and relate the observations to possible genotypes of individuals. Inheritance patterns are discussed and students will analyze pedigrees to identify inheritance patterns of traits within a population. Human karyotypes will be observed and chromosomal differences will be correlated with human chromosomal syndromes. Students will gain a basic understanding of how phenotypes are determined by alleles on chromosomes and the differences in inheritance patterns of traits.
Learning Outcomes
- Identify possible genotypes of individuals from observed phenotypes
- Visually identify abnormalities in human karyotypes
- Identify genotypes of individuals within human pedigrees
- Observe human single gene traits within a group
- Correlate phenotypes of single gene traits to possible genotypes
- Analyze pedigrees to determine patterns of inheritance
- Analyze karyotypes to identify chromosomal abnormalities
Vocabulary
Chromosome
Homologous chromosomes
Gene
Allele
Dominant allele
Recessive allele
Homozygous
Heterozygous
Genotype
Phenotype
Autosomes