Thursday, March 1, 2012

What Is Laminate Flooring? - Reference Guide

Laminate flooring is a type of flooring material which can be an inexpensive and attractive alternative to hardwood or a type of stone. Each plank consists of multiple layers of fibreboard held together with a melamine resin. The outer layer has a decorative wood effect applied to it; this is then covered with a transparent protective layer to reduce scratching. Interestingly the name comes from the Latin word for a thin sheet. Most of these products are sold as bundles of planks with tongue and groove fittings, allowing installers to fit them together easily.

You will find that it comes in a variety of wood finishes and sizes, allowing the customer to choose the perfect colour and appearance to go with the walls and furnishings of a room. Finishes range from dark woods, such as walnut or mahogany, to lighter colours such as oak or ash.

As an alternative to realwood or a type of stone, its chief strength is its affordability. Cost varies quite dramatically but you can find examples for as little as £10 per square metre, although higher-end versions, with improved appearance and durability, can be more expensive. Nonetheless, they represent a huge savings compared to more traditional tyoes, which can be double or even four to five times the cost of comparable boards.

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Format For a Resume Reference Page - The "How to" Guide

There are plenty of "how to" guides on writing a resume, but very few address the issue of what the format for a resume reference page should look like. A reference page is a critical part of the resume/job search process. Notice I stated, "reference page" as your references should be placed on separate page rather than in your resume!

DON'T place your references in your resume - that is not the proper format!

The first step in learning how to put references in a resume is don't put them in it...

Create a separate sheet and use a resume reference sample page as a guide.

The standard in the "Job Search" world is:

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Understanding Absolute Cell References in Microsoft Excel

Overview

There is a general principle within Microsoft Excel that we should always avoid entering values directly into formulas and functions. The issue with doing so is that if the value changes, then the formula has to be manually updated. In most cases it would be better to declare these potential variable values in their own cells and reference them instead. This works fine until we need to copy the formula, when we find that there are problems. In this article we look at the problem and the fix, known as an 'absolute cell reference'.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Architecture Reference Ebooks - Making the World a Better Place

In a world where technological development is the only constant, an architecture reference ebook plays a significant role by enhancing professionals' knowledge on current changes in the market. The complete understanding of the domain requires in-depth study and practical knowledge, which are detailed in architecture reference ebooks like architecture security design and CARVER+Shock Vulnerability Assessment Tool books.

Owing to the easy accessibility and user-friendliness of virtual books, these have been able to garner a huge reader base. Instead of carrying heavy hardbound books, readers all over the world are opting for ebooks. These are also preferred over paper books because of their environment friendliness. The hassles of carrying book loads and storing them are now simplified with the help of the digitised versions of the books. As these are easy to update and correct, it is convenient for both publishers and readers.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

APA Formatting - How to Create a Reference List in APA Style

In your APA Style thesis or dissertation, the reference list provides an alphabetical listing of all the sources you used to create your paper. When creating an APA Style reference list, which some people call a bibliography, you have to follow specific APA formatting rules, depending on the type of source involved.

First, let's discuss some basic rules about the reference list.

AUTHORS. List the author's last name, followed by the initials. If you have more than one author for a source, list each one individually, until you've listed the sixth author, then use "et al." for any subsequent authors. When listing more than one author, use an ampersand (&) instead of the word "and" ahead of the final author in the list.

INDENTION. After the first line of each source, indent each subsequent line about one-half inch, creating a hanging indention for each source.

ORDERING. Alphabetize the entire list by the authors' last names. If you have more than one source from an author, list the earliest source first.

PUNCTUATION. Capitalize all major words in the titles of the works that you're citing for journals, but not books. With longer pieces of works, such as books and journals, italicize the titles. Do not italicize shorter pieces of work, such as essays.

I. Reference List Examples

Next, here are some examples for listing various sources in APA Style.

BOOKS. Include the year of publication, the book title, the publisher's location and name, along with the author's name(s).

*Johnson, T. J., & Smith, X. Q. (2003). Economic growth in Africa. New York: Jones Brothers Publishers.

ELECTRONIC SOURCES. List the author's name, if known; date of publication, if known; title of the online article or Web page; volume or issue number, if known; date of retrieval; and Internet address. The first example is from an online periodical.

Sunday, October 2, 2011

What Employment Reference Checks Will Review

There are a number of key points that employment reference checks are going to review. These are all used with the intention of making sure that a potential employee in any site is going to be a safe person to deal with no matter what one is dealing with.

First, employment reference checks are used to see what jobs a person has done in the past. These include jobs that relate to the employment that one had according to a reference and also the dates that a person was employed for. This information is used to help make it a little easier for anyone to manage a decent job.

Also, many of these employment reference checks are used to review the nature of one's job with regards to how a person worked. This includes seeing what kinds of tasks a person did while on the job. This information is used to help make it a little easier for anyone to manage different kinds of services while on the job.

The assessment of one's skills is often used in employment reference checks. This includes looking to see how competent a person was with a certain job. This is needed to keep things managed carefully without worrying about the problems that one has when working.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

What Should a Reference Page Look Like?

There are multiple documents involved in the job-search process: your résumé, your cover letter and your follow-up or thank-you letter. If you haven't done so already, consider adding one more item to your application package: a reference page. Since prospective employers almost always ask for references, it's smart to have a list immediately available for them to look over.

Employers use a number of strategies to get to know job candidates and make a determination about the candidate's suitability for employment. Contacting references is a key part of the process. However, listing references on your résumé is a bad idea. It's better to use every inch of your résumé to showcase your skills and education; putting references down could appear as filler. The best way to share your references is by showcasing them on their own page.

A reference page is much simpler to write than a résumé or cover letter, but don't overlook its importance. This step requires nearly as much thought and analysis. You must use care, thoughtfulness and communicate openly with the people you've chosen as your references. More than one person has lost out on a position for failing to properly vet references. While you don't want to be portrayed as a saint without imperfections, you want to make sure your references share your goal of helping you find new employment, and keep that in mind when speaking to potential employers.

The accepted standard is three professional references, such as supervisors and co-workers, and three personal references. Personal references, which allow prospective employers to see another side of you, can be people you know from volunteer activities, church, or school. Avoid choosing personal references that are too personal, like spouses and parents.

Once you've contacted your references, obtained their approval, and collected their information, you need to create your reference page. Don't simply type out the information; remember you're creating a package of documents to represent you to your employer. The same level of care you put into your résumé and cover letter should go into your reference sheet. As a résumé writer, I give the reference page the same heading as the résumé, and use the same font. I use bold text and italicized text sparingly, to emphasize job titles or places of employment, and follow the same format for each reference: