How to Register to Vote in U.S. Elections

How to Register to Vote in U.S. Elections Registering to vote is required in order to cast ballots in elections in all states except North Dakota. Under Articles I and II of the U.S.  Constitution, the manner in which federal and state elections are conducted are determined by the states. Since each state sets its own election procedures and regulations – such as voter identification laws – it is important to contact your state or local elections office to learn your state’s specific election rules. How to Vote With the exception of state-specific rules, the basic steps to voting are the same almost everywhere.Voter registration is required in every state except North Dakota.Every state allows absentee voting.Most states assign voters to vote at specific polling places or voting locations.The U.S. Election Assistance Commission lists federal election dates and deadlines by state. Who Cannot Vote? The right to vote is not universal. Some people, depending on their circumstances and state laws, will not be allowed to vote. Non-citizens, including permanent legal residents (green card holders), are not allowed to vote in any state.Some people who have been convicted of felonies cannot vote. These rules may vary by state.In some states, persons who have been legally declared mentally incapacitated cannot vote. What is Voter Registration? Voter registration is the process used by the government to ensure that everyone who votes in an election is legally eligible to do so, votes in the correct location and only votes once. Registering to vote requires that you give your correct name, current address and other information to the government office that runs elections where you live. It might be a county or state or city office. Why is Registering to Vote Important? When you register to vote, the elections office will look at your address and determine which voting district you will vote in. Voting in the right place is important because who you get to vote for depends on where you live. For example, if you live on one street, you may have one set of candidates for city council; if you live the next block over, you may be in a different council ward and be voting for completely different people. Usually, the people in a voting district (or precinct) all go to vote in the same location. Most voting districts are fairly small, though in rural areas a district can stretch for miles. Whenever you move, you should register or re-register to vote in order to make sure you always vote in the right place. Who Can Register to Vote? To register in any state, you need to be a U.S. citizen, 18 or older by the next election, and a resident of the state. Most, but not all, states have two other rules as well: 1) you cant be a felon (someone who has committed a serious crime), and 2) you cant be mentally incompetent. In a few places, you can vote in local elections even if you are not a U.S. citizen. To check the rules for your state, call your state or local elections office. College Students: College students who live away from their parents or hometown can usually register legally in either place. Where Can You Register to Vote? Since elections are run by states, cities, and counties, the rules on registering to vote are not the same everywhere. But there are some rules that apply everywhere: for example, under the Motor Voter law, motor vehicle offices across the United States must offer voter registration application forms. Other places required the National Voter Registration Act to offer voter registration forms and assistance include: state or local government offices such as public libraries, public schools, offices of city and county clerks (including marriage license bureaus), fishing and hunting license bureaus, government revenue (tax) offices, unemployment compensation offices, and government offices that provide services to persons with disabilities. You can also register to vote by mail. You can call your local elections office, and ask them to send you a voter registration application in the mail. Just fill it out and send it back. Election offices are usually listed in the phone book in the government pages section. It may be listed under elections, the board of elections, supervisor of elections, or city, county or township clerk, registrar or auditor. Especially when elections are coming up, the political parties set up voter registration stations at public places like a shopping mall and college campuses. They may try to get you to register as a member of their political party, but you dont have to do so in order to register. NOTE: Filling out the voter registration form does not mean that you are actually registered to vote. Sometimes application forms get lost, or people dont fill them out correctly, or other mistakes happen. If in a few weeks you have not received a card from the elections office telling you that you are registered, give them a call. If theres a problem, ask them to send you a new registration form, fill it out carefully and mail it back. The Voter Registration card you receive will probably tell you exactly where you should go to vote. Keep your Voter Registration card in a safe place, its important. What Information Will You Have to Provide? While voter registration application forms will vary depending on your state, county or city, they will always ask for your name, address, date of birth and status of U.S. citizenship. You also have to give your drivers license number, if you have one, or the last four digits of your Social Security number. If you dont have either a drivers license or a Social Security number, the state will assign you a voter identification number. These numbers are to help the state keep track of voters. Check the form carefully, including the back, to see the rules for the place where you live. Party Affiliation: Most registration forms will ask you for a choice of political party affiliation. If you wish to do so, you can register as a member of any political party, including Republican, Democrat or any third party, like Green, Libertarian or Reform. You can also choose to register as independent or no party. Be aware that in some states, if you dont select a party affiliation when you register, you will not be allowed to vote in that partys primary elections. Even if you do not select a political party and do not vote in any party primary elections, you will be allowed to vote in the general election for any candidate. When Should You Register? In most states, you need to register at least 30 days before Election Day. In Connecticut, you can register up until 14 days before an election, in Alabama 10 days. Federal law says that you cant be required to register more than 30 days before the election. Details on registration deadlines in each state can be found on the U.S. Election Assistance Commission Web site. Six states have same-day registration - Idaho, Maine, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Wisconsin and Wyoming. You can go to the polling place, register and vote at the same time. You should bring some identification and proof of where you live. In North Dakota, you can vote without registering. Parts of this article are excerpted from the public domain document I Registered, Did You? distributed by the League of Women Voters.

Learning to Write by Reading

Learning to Write by Reading Learning to Write by Reading Learning to Write by Reading By Michael You might think avoiding other influences makes you a more original writer. But nobody can write in a vacuum. Even the meanings of words depend on how others have used them. You didnt invent the English language. Everything you write, you learned from someone else, even if only from your first grade teacher. Only when youre aware of your influences as a writer can you transcend them, instead of unconsciously copying them. Instead, reading other writers (which you already do) and learning from their style will help you develop your own, original style. Besides improving your vocabulary, it will give you a wider array of tools from which you can choose. You may recognize your own style as you read someone elses. Or you may learn what you dont want to sound like. Choosing your influences Which writers should an aspiring writer read? You should read the great ones there, thats vague enough. Start with the classics of world literature, because many people over many years have confirmed theyre worth reading. You can search Google for greatest writers of all time to see a list. Include modern authors as well, because thats what you are. My colleague Mark Nichol suggests four books that demonstrate specific writing skills. But be warned: take advice on what writers to read, but not whom you must imitate. You can never be anyone but yourself. In 18th century England, everyone thought they needed to write like Lord Chesterfield, but that was a bad idea even in the 18th century. Imitate the writers you want to be like its more profound than it sounds. As Ive said before, you are what you read. Reading influences your style, and as you discover your true style, you have an obligation to keep developing it. Even great writers might be imitated for the wrong reasons. Perhaps another writers uniqueness shouldnt be imitated, since you have your own. Perhaps he or she can get away with breaking rules that you and I shouldnt try to, not until we become more skilled. Until we do, no wonder our writing doesnt quite work. Or it might be a writers persona that draws us, rather than their skill. Many aspiring writers long to be irreverent free-spirits, but that doesnt make them good writers. Mixing a drink like Ernest Hemingway will not make you write like him. (Hemingway himself retorted, Have you ever heard of anyone who drank while he worked? You’re thinking of Faulkner. He does sometimes.) Some great literary figures were great partly because of their suffering, and you may not want that. Some of them were mentally ill. Imitate writers because of how they write, not because of what they write about. Some writers became popular only because they landed on the popular side of popular controversies. As Kurt Vonnegut wrote about his fictitious novelist Kilgore Trout, His prose was frightful. Only his ideas were good.† Other writers camouflage their bad ideas with excellent writing, but its dangerous to imitate interesting writers who write badly. Developing your tools Choose the writers who can do what you want to do, so you can learn how to do it yourself. Like many people, my favorite writer Connie Willis could never guess the murderer in Agatha Christie novels. She wanted to learn how to surprise her readers too, so she studied Agatha Christies plots to figure out how she did it, and it paid off. Now critics call her a novelist who can plot like Agatha Christie. If youre writing within a genre, you need to learn the genre, but its more important to learn the skills. In other words, dont say, Okay, I like J.R.R. Tolkien, so I want to learn to write about orcs. Orcs have been done enough already. If you really want to give orcs a fresh face (and orcs are not known for their facial beauty), you first need to learn to write about evil, or danger, or enemies. So find authors who understand those things, whatever their genre. If you are organizing a dangerous quest, you dont need to imitate the way Gandalf organized one in Bilbo Baggins hobbit hole. You could find inspiration for that in Moby Dick or Treasure Island. Professor Tolkien would be ashamed if all you learned from his writings was how to talk like an orc. You can imitate the style of others as you develop your own, but theres no need to imitate their ideas. If youre writing about danger, sure, read how other writers depict danger. Read what they say, then decide what you want to say. It should not be the same thing. That is not the kind of imitation Im talking about. How you feel about danger will be different because youre different. Thats your unique contribution. How to absorb a writers influence Besides reading, what other ways can you learn from an author? Copy out passages that you like. Copying focuses your attention by slowing down your reading. You can learn better by involving the hand as well as the eye. Read out loud. While youre at it, why not read regularly to those who cant read for themselves? That helps you, the aspiring writer, as well as the preschool future reader, or the elderly person with failing sight. Create templates from favorite sentences, similar to the Mad Libs game, and fill the structure with your own words. For example, based on the first line of Edith Whartons Ethan Frome: NAME VERB the NOUN, bit by bit, from ADJECTIVE NOUN, and each time it was a ADJECTIVE NOUN. Adapted original: I had the story, bit by bit, from various people, and each time it was a different story. Parody an authors style while writing on a subject that he never would have. Thats how the Bad Hemingway Contest kept going for nearly 30 years. Parodying Ernest Hemingway is an attractive target that has tempted distinguished writers such as E. B. White, Raymond Chandler, F. Scott Fitzgerald and George Plimpton. Imitation doesnt need to be a form of flattery. You can learn a lot about a writers style when you make gentle fun of him or her. W. H. Auden, in his 1962 essay â€Å"The Poet and the City,† says that in his imaginary College for Bards, the only critical exercise required of students would be the writing of parodies. Authors who learned writing by copying out passages, even entire books, include Jack London, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Hunter S. Thompson. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Writing Basics category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Program vs. ProgrammeRunning Amok or Running Amuck?20 Criminal Terms You Should Know

Indigenous land claims Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Indigenous land claims - Essay Example In fact, even after gaining independence and sovereignty, the colonial masters have always been reluctant to hand over indigenous land to the indigenous people. Landlessness is one of the significant indicators of extreme poverty levels across the globe. Actually, poor citizens mostly live in rural areas, rely on agriculture, and agricultural labor to survive. However, they do not own these pieces of land (Landesa, 2012, p.1). In the modern times, all land belongs to the government with the citizens exercising use and care over land. Through various government land commissions, the government issues ownership certificates to qualified individuals, regulates and controls use of all land in a given state. Possession, use, registration, or even land claims are important yet very difficult procedures in matters relating to land. It is usually very difficult for the government to honor indigenous land rights and land claims have always resulted to violence and court cases.  However, the re have been various claims over land all over the world by the indigenous people in specific nations from the government, colonial masters, or caretakers. A land claim is a formal statement submitted to the federal and/or provincial government by an Aboriginal community asserting violation to commitments or obligations relating to Aboriginal land rights (Darling, 2012, p.1). While it is much easier to launch a land claim against a registered land, it is much difficult to claim a right over unregistered land. This paper will address the content and significance of the central land rights claims made by indigenous people, mostly indigenous people in Australia. Like other traditional inhabitants, the indigenous people of Australia have been in existence, occupying, and using indigenous land for more than 60 000 years. Although they have greatly evolved with time just like the uses of land, the significance of land in sustaining

THE IMPACT OF THE HAJ EVENT ON VISITORS TOWARD THE HOSTING DESTINATION Research Proposal

THE IMPACT OF THE HAJ EVENT ON VISITORS TOWARD THE HOSTING DESTINATION - Research Proposal Example The evaluation of the event will be an essential attribute that requires a proper analysis and elaboration of the issues that take place within the same platform. This report proposes that the events profits the hosting country a lot due to the influx of people while also creating an opportunity for small scale traders to expand their business so as to gain from these events. The proposal will examine the different issues that affect attitudes when dealing with mega events. The proposal will evaluate the events and the value dimensions that define attitudes when dealing with such events. It will also look at the impact of having such an event to the hosting country as the costs and benefits will be felt most by the host countries. Most of countries have begun to open up on hosting mega events. The Hajj has always been an awaited session amongst the Muslims due to their religious connotations. Others have been yearning to host events as big as the fifa world cup and the Olympics because of the tourism benefits they accrue as a country (Horne and Manzenreiter, 2006: 190). The goal is to understand whether the benefits will outweigh the costs and whether the host country will manage the people who come to the country (Jones, 2001: 242: Daniels, 2006: 335). These have also shaped the world tourism patterns because everyone knows that the Hajj period is directed to Mecca and any world cup will be directed to the hosting countries. With time, people already shape their tourism patterns. They have also highlighted the new tourism destinations and brought new demands to these countries (Gelan, 2003: 410). The main expectation, however, is that the host country will have heavily invested in infrastructure, sporting facilities and security to avoid any fatalities due to the huge crowd (Szymanski, 2002: 170). The improvement will benefit the country afterwards, but the

Can Students Study Better Using A Tablet?

Can Students Study Better Using A Tablet? Can Students Study Better Using Digital Textbooks on a Tablet Than They Can By Using Books, Pens and Paper Nowadays young starts were easily adopting to the new technologies and implementing them in education, similarly do the students can studying better using digital textbooks on a tablets rather than using traditional method of reading textbooks, well in my opinion students has to adopt to the digital textbooks because it is very flexible and has many advantages like compact, take very less place to store and no wear and tears and so on where this all helps the students to be smart in the real world. Many people says that many of students were very much comfortable with the hard copies in my sense this is because eBooks may not be accessible in their places. There is absolutely no doubt the digital textbooks are cheaper. Students at the Stepinac college paid $700 for textbooks previously which year only $150 for having access to the digital library (by Theresa Walsh Giarrusso september 2013). Even Students are very attached to their mobile phones and tablets but they have not been enamoured to digital books even though the cost is low, since they are very much habituated to hard copies of text books. This method indirectly effects the environment. This results in deforestation and pollution. Although students in college today are very attached to their cellular devices, they have not really been enamoured associated with e-books. In 2010, digital books accounted for 3 percent associated with textbooks sales using the National Association associated with College Stores (By Bertha Coombs, CNBC.com-published on June 2011). Analysts say its because until now e-textbooks happen to be little more bit more than PDF replicates of physical textbooks, impractical for students whore accustomed to mentioning their paper copies since they study. Researchers at on the web education firm Xplana state the shift toward tablets in the year ahead wills certainly jumpstart demand for e-texbooks in the $8 billion Oughout. S. education publication market. iPads and other tablets will probably be in the possession around 20 percent of scholars by the fall of 2012, states that Xplana director associated with research Rob Reynolds. Thats an enormous impact. Its fastest developing technology tha t weve welcomed in education. Reynolds predicts electronic digital book sale growth in the higher education market will double over the next four many years to $1. 5 billion by 2015, and be the cause of 25 percent market share. A big jump in the amount of interactive texts available for the new supplement platforms next fall could also spur greater requirement. Text books are heavy and no longer necessary when the information can be downloaded. In classrooms in my area, iPads have been very successful. iPads are a recent some-what inexpensive tablet computer that became available in 2010. Apple company offers good education programs for universities. The weight with the textbooks in his or her backpacks would injure their backs overtime. Whereas an iPad is merely 1. 44 fat. The iPad can also have educational video games for the students to find out and entertain independently (article took in http://www.debate.org/opinions/should-kids-use-ipads-for-textbooks-in-school). While in many countries people still go with traditional method using the hard copies because the people were not well fascinated to technology. Due to this the children in some developing countries like India were facing the problem while carrying text books to the schools that their back bone were getting bent due to the over load of caring more books. Perhaps using the di gital books really gives a lot of advantages to the students like it occupies only small place to save thousands of text books and it is very easy to carry from one place to another. Using an ipad could help children look into the console and make children compose more. Scholars might not need to keep getting up to hone their pencils which diverts the educator and learners. The point when individuals have untidy penmanship, their work looks flawless and is not difficult to peruse on the ipad. When young children make use of iPads as well as notebooks theyre going to learn to make better do the job and stay cleverer. Many people argue that as compared with traditional method of reading, seating in front of tablets and ipads will create some health problem like eye strain and health hazard, and also it seems to be less concentrated while studying, but in my opinion digital books will make our work quick and easy I am sure that one can find a article in eBook quickly rather than using a textbook. Finally i would like to conclude that people has to update their habits as the technology changes this helps the students to be smart in the real world, thereby using ipads, tablets, and smartphones helps students to learn more faster within a less time and also they were eco friendly to environment. References : Bertha Coombs, CNBC.com-published on June 2011 http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/news/2011-06-17-digital-textbooks_n.htm Theresa Walsh Giarrusso september 2013 http://blogs.ajc.com/momania/2013/09/18/paper-vs-digital-are-there-benefits-to-paper-textbooks-that-schools-are-missing/ http://www.debate.org/opinions/should-kids-use-ipads-for-textbooks-in-school NAME: ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY PREWRITING ARGUMENT QUESTION: 1

Relflection Paper on Interpreter as an Gatekeeper in Medical Discourse

Reflection Paper of Critiquing Translating and Interpreting Presentation Name: Rizqi Fauziah Std Number: 0807532 Class: 7B The Interpreter as Institutional Gatekeeper: The Social-Linguistic Role of Interpreters in Spanish-English Medical Discourse This reflection essay will discuss the written report of the group presentation on chapter entitled The Interpreter as Institutional Gatekeeper: The Social-Linguistic Role of Interpreters in Spanish-English Medical Discourse written by Brad Davidson. This will include how to build group discussion, the material presented, class discussion, and the conclusion. The data are taken from the work of Baker (2010). A couple weeks before the presentation was held, the group which consists of four members started to discuss the material that will be presented. The discussion was conducted three times meetings. Each member of the group should read all the material before the first meeting was held. In the first meeting, the group divided the material to each member of the group, thus, every member would have more focus on the material given. The second meeting, we discussed our understanding on the each material given, then, we made power point slide presentation. In the last meetings, still, we shared our understanding about the topic and had a rehearsal presentation. This chapter talks about how the interpreter’s role is in medical discourse based on Brad Davidson’s study and detailed analysis entitled The Social-Linguistic Role of Interpreters in Spanish-English Medical Discourse. In the Davidson’s study, there were found examples of the way in which the interpreters tend to align themselves with the institutions and to strengthen institutional voice, often at the expense of the voice of participants (Baker, 2010). In this case, the institutional setting is hospital and participant is the patient. I’m interested in the quotation ‘interpreters are the most powerful people in medical conversation’ which is made by head of interpreting service at a major private U. S. hospital in May 1999. What I understand from this quotation is that the interpreters who have control in the conversation. They are as a key in conversation because they connect the doctor and the patient in order to gain the conversational goals. As mentioned by Davidson (Baker, 2010 p. 154): â€Å"Interpreter acts as he point of negotiation and exchange between the social context inhabited by the physician and the patient† Historically, most analysis has been based on oral model of translation which most analysis of interpretation has focused on monologues as suggested by Davidson in Baker (2010, p. 155). Furthermore, the interpreters are seen as conduits, not conversational participant. In contrast, rece ntly, the interpreters do not only conveying the message, but they shape and, and in some very real sense, create those messages in the name those for whom they speak (Baker, 2010 p. 56). Moreover, the interpreter is always placed in contested are between being provides of a service and being agent of authority and control (Baker,2010 p. 156). The structured interaction between the patients, the physician, and the interpreter is called medical discourse or medical interview. Davidson’s study of medical discourse was conducted at General Medicine Clinic (GMC) of Riverview General Hospital in spring and summer 1996. According to Davidson in Baker (2010), the data collection concerned on the way in which the hospital-based interpreters were used in clinic, the interpreter’s presence in helping to shape the course and content of interview and the way interpreter mediated the clash of goals between the achievement of institutional goals and goals held by the patient. The data are collected from observation of over 100 patients’ visits, 50 of which were observed and audio taped. The research questions that are asked by Davidson are: 1. What the role of interpreter within the goal-oriented? . What is the interpretative habit? And how does one engage in the practice of interpreting? 3. If the interpreters are not neutral, do they challenge the authority of the physician judge, and act as patients’ ambassadors, or do they reinforce the institutional authority of physician? During the study, Davidson said that the scarcity of time become the factor of the patient in medical intervie w. It is because the patients who used interpreter often were left alone for sometimes an hour while they waited for the interpreter to arrive (Baker, 2010 p. 60). Moreover, Davidson said that the interpreters are possibly conducted the interview with the patient before the physician arrived (Baker, 2010 p. 160). They took a charge of physician’s position by asking questions the patient about the illness before they convey it to the physician. This affects the process of elaborating a Chief Complaint from patient which becomes shorter. Besides, the interpreters also would occasionally go so far as to conduct the initial portions of the interviews itself. According to Davidson in Baker (2010, p. 64) the interferences of interpreter in medical interview create harms for the physician. For instance, in case of English-speaking physician who had a Spanish speaking patient, most the direct questions that directed to physician were answered by the interpreter. This treatment is app arently an attempt to keep the patient ‘on track’, but this makes a threat to the physician’s authority within the interview. This habitual action done by the interpreter might be viewed as a move to insulate the physician. Keeping the patient on track also led a loss of patient complaint in conversational. It affects that patient’s complain will left undiagnosed and untreated. In contrast with the patient without interpreting, their complaints were diagnosed and treated because there was no interference from the interpreter. In this case, the interpreter sometimes edited the wholesale complaint of the patient in order to keep the interview ‘on track’ and sometimes to protect the physician and the institution of hospital. However, this makes un-tracks the achievement of the institutional goals (diagnosis and treatment) of interview itself. After explaining the material, 3 classmates asked some questions. The first question came from Riska K. R who asked ‘ is there any justification for medical interpretation to have a tendency to support a medical institution instead of the patient? ’ we agreed to answer that yes, there is justification in which the interpreter supports the medical institution. It is because the role of the interpreter itself is as an institutional gatekeeper. The interpreters are paid by the hospital (the institution), thus, they support the institutional. The second question came from Rendriawan who asked ‘please explain the sentence â€Å"the interpreter also interpret selectively, and appear to do so in a patterned (non-random) fashioned† ‘. Then, we answered that the interpreter should filter what utterance that is told by the patient before we convey it to the doctor in order to protect the physician and the institution of the hospital from the critique of the patient. The last question is from Lalitya P who asked ‘are there any differences of the role of interpreter in colonial and post colonial codition? How the interpreter reacts in the interview? ’. we agreed to answer that yes, we think that there is difference in colonial and post colonial condition. For example in post colonial the interpreter is always placed in contested are between being providers of a service and being agents of authority and control. To sum up, the answer of research question has been answered in this study. The interpreters have a role as ‘advocates’ or ‘ambassadors’ for interpreted patients as suggested by Davidson (Baker, 2010 p. 172). Besides, they also act as informational gatekeepers who keep the interview ‘on track’ and the physician on schedule. The interpreters who attempt to keep the interview ‘on track’, sometimes, lead the habitual actions such as answering the patient’s questions which are directed to the doctor, editing the wholesale patient complaint in order to protect the institutional of the hospital, and etc. According to Davison in Baker (2010, p. 73) it can be outlined that interpreters are not, and cannot be ‘neutral’ machines of linguistic conversion. Moreover, it is because they are faced with the reality that linguistic systems are not ‘the same’ in how they convey information contextually. Besides, they are themselves also social agents and participant in the discourse. Davidson said in his article that the interpreters and the physicians at Riverview have to have training (Baker, 2010, p. 173) Bibliography Baker, M. (2010). Critical Reading In Traslation Studies . New York: Routledge. ‘

Topographic Maps

Topographic maps (often called topo maps for short) are large scale maps, often greater than 1:50,000, which means that one inch on the map equals 50,000 inches on the ground. Topographic maps show a wide range of human and physical features of the Earth. They are very detailed and are often produced on large sheets of paper. The First Topographic Map In the late 17th century, French finance minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert hired surveyor, astronomer, and physician Jean-Dominique Cassini for an ambitious project, the topographic mapping of France. Author John Noble Wilford says: He [Colbert] wanted the kind of maps that indicated man-made and natural features as determined by precise engineering surveys and measurements. They would portray the shapes and elevations of mountains, valleys, and plains; the network of streams and rivers; the location of cities, roads, political boundaries, and other works of man. After a century of work by Cassini, his son, grandson, and great-grandson, France was the proud owner of a complete set of topographic maps. It was the first country to produce such a prize. Topographic Mapping of the United States Since the 1600s, topographic mapping has become an integral part of a countrys cartography. These maps remain among the most valuable maps for government and the public alike. In the United States, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is responsible for topographic mapping. There are over 54,000 quadrangles (map sheets) that cover every inch of the United States. The USGS primary scale for mapping topographic maps is 1:24,000, which means that one inch on the map equals 24,000 inches on the ground, the equivalent of 2000 feet. These quadrangles are called 7.5 minute quadrangles because they show an area that is 7.5 minutes of longitude wide by 7.5 minutes of latitude high. These paper sheets are approximately 29 inches high and 22 inches wide. Isolines Topographic maps use a wide variety of symbols to represent human and physical features. Among the most striking are the topo maps display of the topography or terrain of the area. Contour lines are used to represent elevation by connecting points of equal elevation. These imaginary lines do a nice job of representing the terrain. As with all isolines, when contour lines lie close together, they represent a steep slope; lines far apart represent a gradual slope. Contour Intervals Each quadrangle uses a contour interval (the distance in elevation between contour lines) appropriate for that area. While flat areas may be mapped with a five-foot contour interval, rugged terrain may have a 25-foot or more contour interval. Through the use of contour lines, an experienced topographic map reader can easily visualize the direction of stream flow and the shape of the terrain. Colors Most topographic maps are produced at a large enough scale to show individual buildings and all streets in cities. In urbanized areas, larger and specific important buildings are represented in black, and the urbanized area surrounding them is represented with red shading. Some topographic maps also include features in purple. These quadrangles have been revised solely through aerial photographs and not by the typical field checking that is involved with the production of a topographic map. These revisions are shown in purple on the map and can represent newly urbanized areas, new roads, and even new lakes. Topographic maps also use standardized cartographic conventions to represent additional features such as the color blue for water and green for forests. Coordinates Several different coordinate systems are shown on topographic maps. In addition to latitude and longitude, the base coordinates for the map, these maps show Universal Transverse Mercator  (UTM) grids, township and range, and other coordinate systems. Sources Campbell, John. Map Use and Analysis. William C. Brown Company, 1993. Monmonier, Mark. How to Lie With Maps. University of Chicago Press, 1991. Wilford, John Noble. The Mapmakers. Vintage Books, 2001.