h t t p u w p . a a s . d u k e . e d u w s t u d i o .docx

h t t p : / / u w p . a a s . d u k e . e d u / w s t u d i o
Paragraphing: The MEAL Plan
Effective paragraphing is a central skill in academic writing. M
any writers have been told a
paragraph should contain a single idea; many have heard paragr
aphs have to be a minimum
length—three
sentences, for instance. In reality, paragraphs come in different
shapes and sizes,
and some socalled “rules” may
put writers in a straightjacket that unnecessarily hampers their
ability to convey their ideas as needed in a particular piece of w
riting. Nevertheless, grasping the
general form of a paragraph
provides a good foundation. Once you have this basic building b
lock
at your command, you can vary from it by conscious choice whe
n needed.
One way to envision a body paragraph is as a “complete MEAL,
” with the components being the
paragraph’s Main idea, Evidence, Analysis, and Link
back to the larger claim.
The Main Idea
The
main idea is the paragraph’s central thrust. In academic writing,
that thrust is often
argumentative—a paragraph makes an assertion that’s

part of the writer’s larger claim. Often the
main idea appears in the paragraph’s first sentence, where it is s
ometimes called the “topic
sentence.” However, some paragraphs offer their main idea in th
e second, third, or last sentence;
some don’t have a single sentence that encapsulates the main id
ea. That said, your reader should
come away from each paragraph with a clear understanding of it
s main idea. He or she shouldn’t
have to stop and reread the paragraph, trying to figure out what
it’s saying.
It’s true that a paragraph should usually
focus on a single idea—paragraphs are, after all, the bite-
sized chunks into which you break your argument so that your r
eader will be able to digest it
easily. But keep in mind that, to some degree, you can bring uni
ty to a paragraph that seems to
contain two or three ideas by showing how those ideas really fit
under the same umbrella. The
way a paragraph conveys its claim, in other words, dictates whe
ther your reader will see it as a
coherent idea or as a hodge-podge of different points.
Evidence and Analysis
Evidence and analysis
are a paragraph’s main course; they are what allow you to prove
that your
paragraph’s main idea is plausible. Your evidence could be info
rmation from journal articles
you’ve found in the library; it could be data from research or int
erviews you’ve conducted
yourself; it could be a quotation or paraphrase from a work of li
terature; it could be an image; it
could be a chain of logical reasoning you have developed; in so

me types of papers, it might be an
anecdote or personal experience. However, evidence shouldn’t b
e plopped down in a paragraph
and left to “speak for itself.” If you leave your evidence unexpl
ained, your reader may interpret it
differently than you intended, and if that happens, your main id
ea doesn’t get the support it needs.
Therefore your paragraph should carefully
analyze the evidence it provides; it should, in other
words, explain exactly how the evidence you’ve cited proves wh
at you think it proves. Often a
paragraph’s “E” and “A” are hard to separate: you might provid
e some evidence, analyze it, and
then provide more evidence and analysis. Sometimes individual
sentences will contain both
evidentiary and analytic elements. But in most academic writing
, both evidence and analysis are
essential to a paragraph’s well being.
Link Back to the Larger Claim
A paragraph’s link back to the larger claim is often implicit—
it can be awkward to wrap up a
paragraph with a really heavy-handed link
(“This idea is important to my claim because of X, Y,
and Z”). Nevertheless your reader should get a good sense of ho
w your paragraph fits into the
larger scheme of your paper’s argument. He or she shouldn’t fin
ish reading the paragraph and
think, “Why did the writer put this paragraph
in this paper? I don’t see how this idea is relevant!”
An effective paragraph will clarify its own place in the
essay’s (or section’s) larger claim.

Here’s an example of a paragraph drawn from an essay in
Deliberations: A Journal of First-Year
Writing at Duke University; the column on the left maps the par
ts of the paragraph’s “complete
MEAL”:
M: Danielson here uses a
traditional “topic
sentence” that lays out
the paragraph’s overall
point.
E: His evidence is
indirect, drawn from a
work on Roman history.
A: His analysis links the
historical evidence to his
own assertion about the
United States by
outlining the two
cultures’ similarity.
L: He uses the central
terms of his paper’s
argument to remind his
reader of the paragraph’s
relevance.
It is here that indeed one may foresee
a new union between Church
and State, one that the “religious right” may not completely pre
dict:
the complete eradication of all forms of traditional religion fro
m
government, to be replaced by the Worship of Government itself
.
This seemingly far-fetched idea finds its historical roots in an o

bvious
and powerful reality: the ancient Roman Empire. According to e
arly
twentieth century historian Louis Sweet, the “Worship of Roma
” was
indeed quite common in the Roman Empire. This worship, whic
h
Sweet refers to as the “Romacult,” started most clearly “immed
iately
after the entrance of the Romans into Asiatic affairs.
The similarities
between such ancient, pagan patriotic worship and the current
American situation cannot be overlooked. Just as Rome develop
ed
nation-worship after its conquest of Asian lands, so the United
States
seems to be entering a similar stage of paganism during its conq
uest
of the Middle East.
“The Roma-cult is interlocked from the beginning
with the imperial,” Sweet reminds his readers. Will the vague
patriotic monotheism of America, stripped of traditional religio
n,
become her vague patriotic paganism as she continues on her
imperialistic crusade? (14)
Source:
Danielson, Donald Kyle. “Imperium Dei: America’s New Religi
on.” Deliberations: A Journal of
First-Year Writing at Duke University. Fall 2006: 10-16.
For this assignment, please write a well-formulated paragraph
on the theoretical perspective you think is the most prominent
for each of the 3 leaders identified below. I have provided links

to relevant information on each person. Don’t be surprised if
you find information that reflects each of the three mainstream
theoretical perspectives for each person. What you’re looking
for is the theory that is the most prominent. Which one stands
out the most and why? Be sure to demonstrate your
understanding of the theoretical perspectives and to include
specific evidence (e.g. words and/or actions of the leader) to
support your analysis in each paragraph. To organize your
thoughts, I recommend using the MEAL plan (MEAL plan will
be attached).
Materials for President Putin:
http://www.cfr.org/russian-federation/address-russian-president-
putin-federal-assembly/p33983
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2014/12/russia-
arctic-opportunity-2014121854828947405.html
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-15047823
Materials for President Obama:
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/04/the-
obama-doctrine/471525/
http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/order-from-
chaos/posts/2016/03/11-obama-foreign-policy-record-ohanlon
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2014/12/bold-move-
cuba-obama-asserts-powers-201412209835700563.html
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-13434315
Materials for President Rouhani:
http://www.cfr.org/iran/irans-resistance-economy-
debate/p37748
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/hassan-rouhani-
on-iran-s-new-moderation
http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/03/middleeast/iran-israel-nuclear/
Each of the three paragraphs should be a minimum of 250 words
long and quotes should make up no more than 10% of your

submission. Please exclusively use the course materials and the
sources provided specifically for this assignment.
Please be sure to put quotation marks around material copied
word-for-word from another source and to cite the source. Also,
be sure to cite paraphrased information. Please use the Turabian
citation style. For examples, please see the Turabian Quick
Guide located under the resources link.
Please use 12 pitch, Times New Roman font and 1 inch margins.
Please include your last name in the filename and upload your
work as a .doc or .docx file.
Week 3 Assignment: Flowchart
Solution
Instructions:
Create a FLOWCHART for each problem!
Use the information below to a flowchart (using flowchart
symbols to illustrate how you would program) to solve each
problem. You may use Microsoft PowerPoint® for your
flowchart.

1. Problem 1: Build a flowchart to solve a simple payroll
calculation. Find the amount of pay given, hours worked, and
hourly rate. (The formula to calculate payroll is pay = hourly
rate * hours worked.) Use these values to test the calculation:
(hours = 30 and rate = 8.52) and (hours = 53 and rate = 11.54).
Display hourly rate, hours worked, and pay.
2. Problem 2: Build a program that will calculate the average
miles per gallon obtained on a trip. Input the amount of gas
used and the number of miles driven. (The formula to calculate
miles per gallon is miles per gallon = number of miles driven /
amount of gas used. ) Use these values to test the calculation:
(number of miles driven = 298) and (amount of gas used =
12.17). Display number of miles driven, amount of gas used,
and average miles per gallon.
Assignment Rubric:
Requirements
Points Available
Points Earned
Comments
Describe your experience downloading Python 3.x. (Resolve all
installation issues this week.)

10
10
Flowchart illustrating how to solve a simple payroll calculation.
40
40
Flowchart illustrating how to calculate the average miles per
gallon obtained on a trip.
40
40
Explain your experience in this process and what additional
information would support your success in completing Week
Three Assignment.
10
10
Total
100
100
Submission Instructions:

************
Create one flowchart (using Microsoft PowerPoint) for each of
the problems above. You may us a zipped file if needed to
upload your assignment.
Make sure each submission is labeled with the following:
Your Name
Course Name, Section (example: ENTD200 B002 Spr15)
Instructor name
Week #
Date completed
Respond to discussion 100 words minimum
Question - you mentioned the various protocols for VPN.
Consider L2TP and IPsec. What exactly would prompt use of
one protocol over the other? Provide 1-2 examples so we can
follow along with your explanation.

I really enjoyed reading you post especially the part where
hackers are identified as using VPNs to hide their activities. It
brings up questions about how secure your VPNs actually are
and should a company choose to implement and manage their
own VPN or pay a company to provide the service. Lots of
people pay for VPN access without ever knowing what they are
using. In addition should extra precaution be taken to secure
access to a VPN, like using an RSA token as an layer of
security required to access the network remotely? If so what is
the most effective way to secure the system? For example the
company i work for is located in the United States and I am
overseas and to access my companies network I must have a
user name, password and token ID the is a mixture of a
password and six digit code form my RSA token. The code on
my token changes every few minutes and if after three failed
logins the service is disabled and I must contact a system
administrator.

Respond to discussion 100 words minimum.
Users are confident when using a Local Area Network.
Typically, people feel more secure in the confines of their own
network. When users information travels outside of that Local
Area Network (LAN) there can be cause for concern. Once your
IP packets hit the public Internet then you are truly vulnerable
to possible collection. By using a virtual privatized network
(VPN) to help keep the data being sent over a public
infrastructure safe. This is accomplished by encapsulating the
actual IP packet with encryption as it travels across the public
infrastructure (Networking 2012). It is essential that the

initiator and terminator of a VPN use the same encryption. With
out the valid key exchange there in no way that the person
receiving the data will actually be able to read it (Steike 1998).
A VPN in itself is quite a broad term and there are several
tunneling protocols that are used when performing encryption
on a VPN. These include Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol
(PPTP), Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP), IP Security (IPsec)
(Networking 2012). These protocols were created by different
vendors (ex: Microsoft or Cisco) for different purposes (Steinke
1998). They often can function at different layers of the OSI
Model.
Lesson 3: Networking and the Internet (2012). In Local Area
Networks - Student Guide(Vol. 7.0, pp. 3-1 – 3-22).
Certification Partners.
Steinke, S. (1998). LAN-to-LAN VPNs: Secure
enough? Network Magazine, 13(9), 44-49. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/212590244?accountid=8289

Respond to Discussion 100 Words minimum.
Virtual Private Networks (VPN) are a great solution for
business’s to be able to have employee’s work from home or
abroad. A VPN is used when you need to access a private
network while traveling across the public internet system. “A
virtual private network (VPN) is a configuration that allows
secure communication across long distances, using the Internet
as the backbone for communications instead of using a dial-up
connection over a public carrier's lines” (CertPRESS, 2012). A
VPN is typically used in the client to server method. VPN’s use
an encrypted tunnel to send all the data across the open internet
from the client to the server. Most client boxes have software
installed on them that has the user authenticate with the server
before the connection is allowed. In the military we use Juniper
SSL VPN software which I believe has 256 bit encryption. Once
you are authenticated and connected to the server you can work

just as if you were sitting in your office. The use of VPN’s is
becoming more widely used with business’s trying to cut cost
on rent and utilities because it allows some if not all of their
employees to work from home.
There are some cons to using VPN’s such as designing and
implementing them. They can be very complex and require a
person with a lot of skill and understanding to create the best
type of VPN for your business. Another big issue with the use
of VPN’s is when wireless devices or connections come into
play. These types of connections require added layers of
security or solutions to ensure the safety of your network. If
your VPN is controlled and run by your ISP then you are at
their mercy so it is extremely important when selecting an ISP
if you are going to use them as a VPN provider. “Any solution
that relies on higher-level encryption has the potential to break
when users roam across access points” (Edwards, 2016).
References
Edwards, J. (2016, July 20). VPN: The Pros and Cons - IT
Security. Retrieved July 20, 2016, from
http://www.itsecurity.com/features/vpn-popularity-021108/
CertPRESS (2012) Lesson 3: Networking and the Internet. In
Local Area Networks - Student Guide (Vol. 7.0, pp. 3-1 – 3-22).
Certification Partners.

This week we discuss the creating of tables and how we can use
them in word 2013 to sort of spruce up a document with either
data or calculations. Word 2013 has come along way with
giving the user an endless amount of tools to really be an all in
one solution when creating things whether it be for school or
your career. Being able to add tables is great as using a program
like excel can become a lot more tedious at times if all you want
to do is show a few figures to people. Being able to make tables
of any size or format you like can go along way to make your
document look more professional to the reader. I think myself
and also for large companies that using the table options in
word can simplify everything into 1 document instead of having
multiple charts and figures in different places. For me
personally I still find excel to be the better option for very large
groups of data or figures, as for me it is easier to enter data
into.
Really inserting a table in word is an easy task and the only
struggle I can really see for myself in the future is just the shear
amount of options available. Thankfully word has many auto
format options for tables that takes all of the tedious work out
of sizing, coloring, and formatting your table. Other feature I
did not know about that I may find very useful in the future are
the ability to create nesting tables also to provide even more
detailed figures in a table. I also love the ability to add a chart

if you table included data figures as this really gives a visual
example to the reader instead of them just sifting through a
bunch of numbers.
Respond to Discussion 150 words minimum
Once a table has been created in Word you are able to use
formulas to perform various calculations based upon the data
you are putting together. To be completely honest before this
week I had never used this function. I am a huge Excel nerd and

that has always been my go to when working with tables and
charts. From compiling numbers to making staff contact lists
and so much more. I have enjoying learning about all you can
accomplish within tables with Word. The main difference that
stands out to me is the way in which you enter formulas. In
excel as long as you know the formula you are using to perform
calculations you can type it directly in the cell and hit enter.
With word you have to go to the layout tab and use the formula
dialog box to type the formula that you need to use.
An advantage of using tables in Word that an organization may
find beneficial would be seen when putting together a report
that requires data to back up your point. With Word you can
easily work on your main document, insert a table showing data
supporting your research and then continue on without having to
reformat something you have cut and pasted out of another
program.
I struggled with working with formulas for the first time and
had to find a cheat sheet of the available formulas that can be
used in order to play with that function on Word. I have to be
completely honest, with my job and the tasks I have to complete
Excel will always be my go to for tables. I do look forward to
creating tables and converting them into charts all in the same
document.

RESPOND to discussion 150 words minimum.
This is not limited to the DRC. Other states, such as Pakistan,
Thailand, Greece, most of the Arab states, and most of Latin
America have had fairly long histories which alternate between
weak civilian governments and military takeovers when the
military leaders believe things are getting out of hand.
There are a lot of reasons -- but one key reason is that in most
states outside of the US and Western Europe, the military is
also a social elite. So the military often sees themselves as the
guardian not so much of the state, but of the existing social
order. This is not an issue in the US, which is why it is often
off our radar.
As most of you may know, the US does military assistance and
training with other countries for a lot of reasons, but one of
them is to try to socialize these kinds of militaries into a more
democratically-oriented focus and (hopefully) create the values
that the military needs not to be trying to run the political
process.
This does work to a certain extent -- the endemic coups in Latin
America have pretty much fizzled out. Not so much in other
places. Egypt was for a time in the "win" column when the
military refused to intervene on behalf of Hosni Mubarak -- but

that got erased by their subsequent deposing of Morsi. This
shows that while we can inculcate values into our military
colleagues, this only goes so far when they see a threat that
needs to be dealt with.
Or, in the case of the DRC, if the military isn't getting their
share of the pie. Is the same thing happening in North Korea?
RESPOND to discussion 150 words minimum.
Starting off, it states that the Democratic Republic of the Congo
has been the epicenter of conflict since World War II. The fact
that it is in a third world country with ongoing conflict with war
makes it a weak state. With almost to zero protection for their

citizen it makes it hard for the average person to live their life.
As stated in this article, “As the conflict has morphed from a
regional war to a series of tenacious local insurgencies, the
civilians caught in the middle have paid the steepest price”
(Stearns1), it is sad to read.
Unlike other countries, the Democratic Republic of the Congo
has the largest group of United Nations there to assist with the
peacekeeping in the Congo. Having the largest group of the UN
peacekeeping deployment team does not matter due to the
amount of armed groups in the Congo, especially during their
presidential election. Since 1994 the Congo has the most death
than any other place, which includes adults and children from
the Congo, also, the death count includes the military members
whom lost their lives there.
Although the Democratic Republic of the Congo has plenty of
resources that are available, it is useless to the citizens due to
the ongoing war. Considering the population of the Congo and
the weak government that supports it also makes it a weak
state. A person per year makes two hundred dollars equivalent
their currency. Due to the poor economy, it forces the civilians
to be easy targets as recruitment for their armed forces. Since
the DRC government is considered weak and corrupt, they must
rely on outside assistant to maintain their peacekeeping and
their government. All areas of the country political wise is
lacking proficiently. Their economic, political and their military

are present but they are far from being proficient. As for their
presidential office, they have had one leader since 2001 and
there is a high possibility of the same leader running for a third
term this year and winning.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is considered a weak
state compared to the US because of the lack of government
participation and the violence it brings upon their citizens.
-Huy
Work Cited:
"The Eastern Congo." Council on Foreign Relations. Council on
Foreign Relations, n.d. Web. 21 July 2016.
Respond to Discussion 150 words minimum.
The Congo is a state that has for years been unstable, and this
instability has lead to conflict, humanitarian disaster and a
weakened state. Since World War 2 Eastern Congo has been in a
state of conflict that has defied any attempts to end it. Although
the country has vast natural resources and farmlands the nation
has been unable to take advantage of these, which would help
build their country and economy.
The conflict, which rages in The Eastern Congo has no

less than 40 armed groups allied with different regional
countries all fighting for there own reasons. Although the armed
forced have shrunk this has lead to small gorilla forces difficult
to track active in the area. The conflict has lead to mass
displacement of the population and is draining the United
Nations force’s resources.
These circumstances have made Congo a Weak State.
With internal threats to the countries sovereignty and the
inability of the country to foster a national identity or a loyalty
to the state, for a large part of the population, it is difficult to
define the Congo as a state. It is only due to the International
Communities decision to recognize the Congo as a State and its
sovereign control of the Eastern Congo, as well as its defense of
the Congo through the UN that the country as a whole exist.
This inability of the country to provide it’s own security also
plays an important role in keep the Congo week. Without
security the country cannot create conditions that allow the
society develop.
Unless the conflict between tribes in the east is
reconciled and the Congo is able to take responsibility for its
protection through improved armed forces, the country will
remain weak for the foreseeable future. The inability to create a
condition that would allow for the basic tenants of statehood,
the creation of a National Identity and a loyalty to the state,
will leave the Congo in a position that their sovereignty is

contingent on other more powerful players in the International
Community that are willing to recognize and defend their state.
Reference List
Wilkinson, Paul. 2007. International Relations : A Very Short
Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. eBook
Collection (EBSCOhost), EBSCOhost (accessed July 21, 2016).
"The Eastern Congo." Council on Foreign Relations. Accessed
July 21, 2016. http://www.cfr.org/congo-democratic-republic-
of/eastern-congo/p37236#!/?cid=main-interactive_dap-
the_eastern_congo.
Respond to Discussion 150 words minimum
Variable and constant are two commonly used mathematical
concepts. Simply put, a variable is a value that is changing or
that have the ability to change. A constant is a value which
remains unchanged. Even though the concepts are fundamental
in many aspects of mathematics, in elementary levels, it is used
in algebra predominantly. (Olivia 2012) If you think back to
math in school and solving for "x", it was an undetermined
number that could be anything until you complete the problem.
In my opinion with data types, those are already data values

predetermined before you continue on, while a variable can
still equal anything until it has guidelines. A good analogy for
a variable is to think of a bucket. We can fill it to a certain
level, we can replace what's inside it, and sometimes we can add
or take something away from it. When we declare a variable to
use a data type it's like putting a label on the bucket that says
what it can be filled with. Let's say the label for the bucket is
"Sand". Once the label is attached, we can only ever add or
remove sand from the bucket. Anytime we try and put anything
else into it, we will get stopped by the bucket police. (Leahy
2016)
A=3
B=4
print(a+b)
1. O. (2012). Difference Between Variable and Constant.
Retrieved July 21, 2016, from
http://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-
variable-and-vs-constant/
2. Leahy, P. (n.d.). How to Declare Variables in Java. Retrieved

July 21, 2016, from
http://java.about.com/od/understandingdatatypes/a/declaringvars
.htm
Within programming declaring constants and variables is a
must. Its considered a best practice to use constants whenever
possible. Within the possible thousands or even millions line of
coding would you rather make small updates when necessary
with few inputs or search the entire program making the
correction? This is how constants help. A constant is a way to
identify certain values which are used many times within a
function (TechTerms, 2012). The constant itself does not
change, hence constant. For example, if your max and min were
set to 100 and 10, then your constants are max and min. If 100
was used instead of max, then you would have to change every
single “100” in your code if you wanted something else.
Instead, just entire a new line declaring what max equals, done.

A variable is a symbolic name that represents data that may
change but the operation to obtain that information does not
(Utah, 2016). For example, a basketball player’s shooting
percentage may change from game to game but the calculation
stays the same, shots made divided by attempts. The variable is
“Shooting Percentage = (calculation)” in the code. Data types
are a set of information with values that has predefined
characteristics, such as integer, floating point unit number,
character, string, and pointer (TechTarget, 2005). These
determine what can be done with the type of data. Example,
“Hello” is a string data type and 1 + 1 is an integer. If you put
the prentices around the equation the computer will treat it as a
string and the calculation won’t occur, create an error.
Identifying a variable is simple in python. As discussed prior,
pick a title for the information represented and add an equal
sign to that data and hit enter. Example, “made = 5”, “attempted
= 10”, and “made/attempted”, after enter the program calculates
.5. Also, you could represent made/attempted as “Shooting
Percentage =” and type Shooting Percentage and .5 would
populate.
Thanks for reading.
-Mark
References:
TechTarget (2005) Data Types. Retrieved from
http://searchsoa.techtarget.com/definition/data-type

TechTerms (2012) Constants. Retrieved from
http://techterms.com/definition/constant
University of Utah (2016) Variables. Retrieved from
http://www.cs.utah.edu/~germain/PPS/Topics/variables.html

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