Saud Almutairi wrote a personal essay describing his life experiences and education. He was born in Saudi Arabia but moved to Canada and the United States to pursue his studies. Through his travels, he became bilingual and was exposed to many different cultures. He also discussed important milestones like remaining single, completing his engineering degree, and enjoying hobbies like soccer and reading. Overall, his essay focused on how life experiences and education have shaped his views and contributed to his personal and professional development.

1. Saud Almutairi
Personal Essay
My name is Saud and I am 23 years old. I was
born in a small town, Alomaq on 22 November 1989 in Saudi
Arabia. Our family is made up of my father, mother, and a
brother. I moved to Canada (Vancouver City) for the purpose of
pursuing my studies. From Canada, I moved to the United States
of America where I have been staying for the one year. My
entire life has had a fair taste of good moments and challenges
that I have always used as stepping blocks to my next level in
life. Indeed, these challenges formed future reference sources
for handling various impediments in my life.
On moving to Canada (Vancouver city) within a period of one a
half years, I had already learnt the English language and
therefore became bilingual. My experience with other cultures
apart from my own Arabic traditional culture was indeed
awesome. I met and made several friends from different races
and ethnic groups. It has been fascinating to learn how different
cultures handle various issues. It was a worthwhile experience
to learn and respect religious orientations of different people.

2. Several but important milestones have happened in my life that
has shaped my perception on life. First, maintaining a single
status until my current age of 23. This is a decision that I
personally made. From my younger years, I knew that for one to
progress in life there is a need to make firm if not decisive
decisions. My status has allowed me some freedoms that have
eliminated some responsibilities in my life and therefore
allowed me to focus on educational issues.
Second pursuing a degree in construction
engineering has indeed been an incredible achievement.
Completing such a course required immense resources in terms
of finances, moral, and material support. In this regard, both my
friends and parents played an important role in ensuring that my
life story becomes a success. Being of Arabic origin, I have to
admit that I faced various challenges from the onset with regard
to communication and making friends both in college and within
the neighborhood. However, being a normal and a quiet person,
I was able to attract various friends than I had imagined of.
Such a caliber has just made every aspect of my life enjoyable
and memorable.
The third and most important milestone in my life has

3. been with regard to my hobbies which majorly underlie reading
and playing soccer. Through playing soccer, I participated in
the community coaching children’s soccer. While in college, I
joined the soccer club and assisted in improving the football
standards. My desire to play soccer increased my chances of
meeting and making new friends. Essentially, I believe that it is
only through playing soccer that I can conduct my physical
exercises. Besides, being an engineer, I enjoy reading various
articles, journals, and books about new advancements
specifically in the field of construction engineering. On the
contrary, I have a great interest of reading story books and
philosophical autobiographies. Through reading these
autobiographies, I learn of great people and their achievements
in history. Scientific journals on construction engineering
update my knowledge on my previously learnt concepts.
Through explorations from one place to another in pursuit of my
studies, I endeavor to increase my knowledge on various aspects
in life and therefore positively contribute towards shaping the
wellbeing of people. Indeed, my honesty, kindness, and
humbleness have played a fundamental role in ensuring that I
attain my shot term objectives.
Surname 1
Student’s Name
Instructor’s Name
Course
Date
Rammed Earth
Rammed Earth also called taipa by Portuguese and tapial by
Spanish, is a wall building technique by use of natural raw
materials like chalk, earth, gravel or lime. It is a type of
building that seen a renewal over the past years as contractors
seek a natural building technique with more sustainable

4. building materials.
Rammed-earth buildings are easy to construct, thermally
massive, noncombustible, strong and durable. Buildings made of
this technique are labor intensive with lack of machinery
(powered tampers), however, these walls are subject to water
spoil if inadequately protected. Buildings made of this method
are found nearly in all continents except the Antarctica, in wet
and temperate regions of Europe, range of environments,
tropics, mountains and semiarid deserts.
For a good and lasting rammed-earth building, one has to
compress suitable proportions of damp mixture of clay, sand
and gravel. An addition of stabilizer is also recommended to
give a strong external support frame. It is quite interesting on
how our grandfathers constructed these buildings trying all
means to stabilize it to extend of using animal blood something
that looks funny to the modern generation. Modern constructors
use cement or lime to stabilize their materials.
A building made of rammed-earth technique in its unique design
has many advantages and disadvantages. The walls on this
design have distinct appearance, facilitate humidity regulation,
lessen carbon dioxide emission, environmental friendly, and
gives airtight construction. The challenging thing about using
this technique is the type soil to be used. Using this technique
calls for more attention because of the poor thermal
performance and long procedure that needs extra insulation. To
protect the building against rain, fire or wind, contractors are
advised to use external or internal insulation.
Rammed-earth method of construction has been used in very
famous buildings. A good example which marks human history
is the building of the Great Wall of China, the Potala Palace in
Lhasa and Alhambra in Granada, just to mention but a few.
Many of European castles and cores of pyramids like the
University of Southern and USC School, of Architecture were

5. made of rammed-earth and fenced with stone (Bui, 32).
Because of contractors using locally available materials to build
rammed-earth walls, there is much to save on finance with little
waste on material and low embodied energy. Rammed-earth
structures use sub-soils which are low in clay (typically ranging
from 5% to 15%), the topsoil is used for agriculture. There is
also the use of soil excavated from the building’s foundation
which helps reduce the energy used and the cost of
transportation. Use of rammed-earth technique has resolved the
problems to homeless individuals due to high building costs.
This method also helps in getting rid of ecological force of
deforestation and the toxicity of material assembling related to
conventional construction technique (Silva, 12).
After World War II, people began to develop low interest in
rammed earth because of the price drop in modern building
materials. Opposing ideas were developed from many engineers,
tradesmen and contractors who considered the technique a
substandard technique and whom many of them had no
knowledge on rammed-earth technique. The developed negative
ideas led to prevailing perception that buildings made of such
materials do not fit earthquake-prone areas making it lose trust
in many regions like Chile where rammed-earth structures are
not given conventional insurance or government approval.
Images: technical how-to image
Visual image of a rammed earth house
Work cited
Bui, T.-T., et al. "Failure Of Rammed Earth Walls: From
Observations To Quantifications."
Construction & Building Materials 51.(2014): 295-302.
Academic Search Complete.

6. Web. 12 Mar. 2014.
Silva, Rui A., et al. "Rammed Earth Construction With Granitic
Residual Soils: The Case Study
Of Northern Portugal." Construction & Building Materials
47.(2013): 181-191.
Academic Search Complete. Web. 12 Mar. 2014.
Rael, Ronald. Earth Architecture. New York, N.Y: Princeton
Architectural Press, 2009. Print.
McHenry, Paul G. Adobe and Rammed Earth Buildings: Design
and Construction. Tucson:
University of Arizona Press, 1989. Print.
CLASS 18: USING
MICROSOFT POWERPOINT
CET-10501
POWERPOINT
2
may use PowerPoint:
Oral Presentations
Web Page
Presentations
Class Handouts

7. Capstone Kiosk
Presentations
POWERPOINT
3
o Many of the operations will
seem familiar after our study
of Microsoft Word.
• Home Tab
• Insert Tab
• Quick Access Toolbar
o Layout commands and
concepts are similar in
concept to the graphic design
capabilities of Microsoft
Publisher.
Text, Graphics
& Pictures
SmartArt
Themes &
Quick Styles
New Layouts
STEPS IN CREATING A

8. POWERPOINT PRESENTATION
• Make an outline
• Create a presentation
• Select a theme
• Create the slides
• Add notes
• Organize the slides
• Add in-slide or between slide transitions
• Play and rehearse the presentation
• Print notes and handouts
• Output the show in its final format
4
PRESENTATION VIEWS
5
• Normal
• Outline View
• Slide Sorter
• Notes Page
• Reading View
• Master Views
• Slide Show
INSERTING TEXT
6

9. FORMATTING TEXT
7
raph panel
PROMOTING AND DEMOTING TEXT
hierarchy, (increase list level)
hierarchy, (decrease list level)
<tab> again
• Etc
8

10. TEXT & SHAPES
GRAPHIC MANIPULATIONS
9
-in graphic
manipulation
special tab >
Shape Styles and
WordArt Styles panels >
Text Effects and Shape
Effects tools
Shadow
Bevel
Reflection
COORDINATION USING THEMES
backgrounds and layouts
10
IMAGES AND ILLUSTRATIONS

11. ert tab >
Images and Illustrations panels
11
USING MASTER SLIDES
formatting options for text and graphics, as well
as slide transitions.
tool
selected slide in the Outline view
12
USING MASTER SLIDES
13
PLACEHOLDERS
Insert Placeholder tool

12. 14
LAYOUTS
15
ANIMATIONS
Animation Pane tool
p down in the Animation Pane for
additional options
16
TRANSITIONS

13. Slide Sorter view
17
VIEWING SLIDE SHOWS
18
ORAL PRESENTATION TIPS
1. Introduce Yourself
2. Know your audience
3. Keep slides clean
4. Talk about the slide, don’t read the slide
mple: include headlines only and a one
sentence summary of what you’re going to talk about
5. Include graphics to help make your point
6. Have your presentation memorized
19

14. ASSIGNMENT 6:
POWERPOINT PRESENTATION
paper (Assignment 4)
-2 slides
o more
than 15
20