Interview Questions: The Future

• What are you looking for in your next job? What is important to you?

• What are your goals for the next five years / ten years?

• How do you plan to achieve those goals?

• What are your salary requirements - both short-term and long-term?

• Questions about your career goals.

• What will you do if you don't get this position?

Task 1

Answer the questions:

What types of interviews have you learnt about? Describe peculiarities of each type.

What are the most comfortable and the most stressful types of interview?

What are typical (groups of) interview questions?

What are the most interesting/difficult/tricky questions? How do you recommend to answer them?

Task 2

Choose three questions and answer them. Your groupmates will analyse your answers.

Task 3

Make up a dialogue presenting an interview of an applicant and an employer.

A CONTRACT OF EMPLOYMENT

When an employee starts work for an organization (the employer), it is desirable that the terms and conditions of employment be negotiated and set down in a written contract. This contract cannot of course determine how well the employee can do the job or what his or her attitude will be at work, but it does provide a framework in which both employer and employee understand what each expects from the other in terms of pay, hours, holidays, sickness arrangements, pension schemes and disciplinary procedures. If either party fails to observe a part of the arrangement they may be in ‘breach of contract’ – a matter which, in serious cases, could be decided by a court or industrial tribunal depending on interpretation of the clause in question. Contracts of Employment may be renegotiated at intervals – often annually – though some firms prefer to issue a standard booklet of rules, terms and conditions which apply to the jobs of all employees. Further details showing what a Contract of Employment should contain are found in this extract from a Government leaflet.

What the written statement must include

The written statement must contain certain particulars and an additional note on disciplinary and grievance procedures, or it must say in what documents, which must be reasonably accessible, this information may be examined.

The statement as to give the names of the employer and employee; the date when the employment began; and say whether any employment with a previous employer counts as part of the employee’s continuous period of employment and, if so, the date on which the period of continuous employment began.

The statement then has to give the following particulars of the terms of employment as at a date, which must be specified, not more than a week before the statement is given to the employee:

• the scale or rate of remuneration, or the method of calculating remuneration (including, for example, any terms on piece-rates, or overtime pay);

• the intervals at which remuneration is paid, that is whether weekly or monthly or some other period;

• any terms and conditions relating to hours of work (including normal working hours);

• any terms and conditions relating to:

entitlement to holidays, including public holidays (sufficient to enable the employee’s entitlement, including any entitlement to accrued holiday pay on the termination of employment, to be precisely calculated);

incapability for work due to sickness or injury, including any provisions for sick pay; and pensions and pension schemes (except when employees are covered by special statutory pension schemes and their employers are already obliged by those statutes to provide pensions information about them);

• the length of notice of termination which the employee is obliged to give and entitled to receive, or if the contract is for a fixed term, the date when the contract expires;

• the title of the job which the employee is employed to do.

• Sometimes Contracts of Employment have no agreed terms under one or more of these headings. For each item, when there are no particulars to be given, the written statement must say so.

Task 1

Agree or disagree with the following statements. Prove your opinion with the text.

• A written Contract of Employment is really very important.

• The contract can determine how well the employee can do his/her job.

• ‘Breech of contract’ is a serious matter.

• Contracts of Employment are never renegotiated.

Task 2

Translate the introduction of the text.

Task 3

Denote the positions that should be fixed in the Contract.

Task 4

Make up a dialogue:

One of you is going to apply for a job. Try to persuade your friend not to forget about the Contract of Employment.

FINAL TASK: speak on the topic “Getting a job”

WRITING A RESEARCH PAPER

Research is a systematic investigation of a topic outside your own knowledge and experience. Doing research means, however, more than just reading other people’s points of view. When you undertake a research, you become involved in a process that requires you to think critically (which means to evaluate and interpret the ideas explored in the sources you use and to formulate your own ideas). Your research will be most efficient if you follow a systematic process such as the one outlined below:

move from an assignment to a topic;

do exploratory research and formulate a research question;

assemble a working bibliography;

develop a tentative thesis;

do focused research;

take notes;

fine-tune your thesis;

outline your paper;

draft your paper;

revise your paper;

prepare your final draft.

Task 1

Try to explain the word ‘research’. Use dictionaries to find synonyms of the words ‘a research’, ‘to research’. Explain the difference between these words.

Task 2

Answer the questions:

What components of research can we define?

Are all people able to make a research?

What traits of character are required to become a good investigator?

Is it interesting to you to research/investigate/analyse?

What should a person do to make a good research? Name the stages of a successful research.

Understanding Your Assignment

Every research paper begins with an assignment. Before you can find a direction for your research, you must be sure you understand the exact requirements of this assignment. Here you can find questions which will help you to understand your assignment better:

• Has your instructor provided a list of possible topics, or are you expected to select a topic on your own?

• Is your purpose to explain, to persuade, or to do something else?

• Is your audience your instructor? Your fellow students? Both? Someone else?

• Can you assume your audience knows a lot (or just a little) about your topic?

• When is the completed research paper due?

• About how long should it be?

• Will you be given a specific research schedule to follow, or are you expected to set your own schedule?

• Are instructor-student conferences required? Are they encouraged?

• Does your instructor require you to keep a research notebook?

For example, you may be given the following assignment:

Write a ten- to fifteen-page research paper that takes a position on any issue related to the Internet. Keep a research notebook that traces your progress.

Task 1

Explain the word ‘assignment’. What helps you to understand your assignment?

Task 2

Answer the questions from this chapter about your assignment.

Choosing a Topic

Once you understand the requirements and scope of your assignment, you need to decide on a topic. In many cases, your instructor will help you choose a topic, either by providing a list of suitable topics or by suggesting a general subject area—for example, a famous trial, an event that happened on the day you were born, a problem on college cam­puses. Keep in mind, though, that you may still need to narrow your topic to one you can write about: one trial, one event, one problem.

If your instructor prefers that you select a topic on your own, you should consider a number of possible topics and weigh both their suitability for research and your interest in them. You decide on a topic for your research paper in much the same way you decide on a topic for a short essay: you read, brainstorm, talk to people, and ask questions. Specifically, you talk to friends and family, coworkers, and perhaps your instructor; read magazines and newspapers; take stock of your interests; consider possible topics suggested by your other courses (historical events, scientific developments, and so on); and, of course, browse the Internet.

Task 1

Answer the questions:

How is the process of choosing a topic described in this paragraph?

Who/what can help you in choosing a topic?

What is the topic of your research?

Task 2

Describe a process of choosing the topic for your research.

Starting a Research Notebook

Keeping a research notebook, a combination journal of your reac­tions and log of your progress, is an important part of the research process. A research notebook maps out your direction and keeps you on track; throughout the research process, it helps you define and redefine the boundaries of your assignment.

In your research notebook you can record lists of things to do, sources to check, leads to follow up on, questions to which you would like to find answers, ideas, possi­ble statements and so on. (Be sure to date your entries and to check off and date work completed.)

Task 1

Answer the questions:

How do you understand the term ‘a research notebook’?

What information is recorded in it?

What is the aim of a research notebook?

Have you ever kept a research notebook?

Doing Exploratory Research and Formulating a Research Question

During exploratory research, you develop an overview of your topic, searching the Internet and looking through general reference works such as encyclopedias, bibliographies, and specialized dictio­naries (either in print or online). Your goal at this stage is to formu­late a research question that you want your research paper to answer. A research question helps you to decide which sources to seek out, which to examine first, which to examine in depth, and which to skip entirely. (The answer to your research question will be your paper's thesis statement.)

Task 1

Answer the questions:

What does ‘exploratory research’ mean?

What are its goals?

How should a student formulate a research question?

Task 2

Formulate the research question of tour research work.

Assembling a Working Bibliography

During your exploratory research, you begin to assemble a working bibliography for your paper. This working bibliography will be the basis for your works-cited list, which will include all the sources you cite in your paper.

As you consider each potential source, keep track of your sources by recording full and accurate bibliographic information in a separate computer file designated "Bibliography" (or, if you prefer, on individ­ual index cards). Keep records of interviews, meetings, lectures, films, and electronic sources as well as records of books and articles. For each source, include not only basic identifying details—such as the date of an interview, the call number of a library book, the URL of an Internet source and the date you downloaded it, or the author of an article accessed from a database—but also a brief evaluation that includes comments about the kind of information the source contains, the amount of information offered, its relevance to your topic, and its limitations.

As you record bibliographic information for your sources, include the following information:

• Book Author(s); title (underlined or in italics); call number (for future reference); city of publication; publisher; date of publication; brief evaluation

• Article Author(s); title of article (in quotation marks); title of journal (underlined or in italics); volume number; date; inclusive page numbers; URL (if applicable); date downloaded (if applicable); brief evaluation

As you go about collecting sources and building your working bibliography, be careful to monitor the quality and relevance of all the materials you examine. Making informed choices early in the research process will save you a lot of time in the long run.

Task 1

Answer the questions:

What is the difference between ‘working bibliography’ and ‘works-cited list’?

What parts does a working bibliography contain?

What details about books/articles are put in a working bibliography?

Why is it necessary to monitor the quality and relevance of all the materials you examine?

Task 2

Describe the working bibliography in your research work.

MY RESEARCH WORK

After finishing school I took up philology because…

The subject of my first course paper was "....". I got interested in that subject because ...

My first scientific advisor/instructor/supervisor was ... and he/she has been in this position for all these years.

In my third year at the University I took up another problem/continued working on this theme. The previous study was supplemented with the analysis of...

I changed the topic of my research/My qualification paper was devoted to the same subject.

My research work is entitled/My course paper is headlined/The title reads… .

The aim of my research is…

I found the information in/collected the material from…

The methods used in my research are ...

(the descriptive method/ the immediate constituents analysis/ the componential analysis/ the typological method/ the comparative method/ the oppositional method).

My qualification paper consists of... parts.

The literature review is made in the first part. I present different opinions of various scholars.

My own analysis of the problem under study is given in the second part

I tried to prove that/I classified…

I made some conclusions

Task

Using the sentences/expressions given above, make up a story about your research work.

64