INPUT ARTICLE: Article: If your teacher, professor, or boss gave you guidelines for your report, make sure you read them thoroughly to make sure you understand the assignment. Generally, the prompt will give you information such as whether your report should be informative or persuasive, who your audience should be, and any issues your report should address.  The guidelines will also typically tell you the requirements for the structure and format of your report. If you have any questions about the assignment, speak up as soon as possible. That way, you don’t start working on the report, only to find out you have to start over because you misunderstood the report prompt. Typically, you’ll have some leeway in what your report will be on. If you pick a subject you’re interested in, you’ll be more engaged during the research and the writing process. This often results in a report that’s more fun to read, so you’ll likely get better feedback or a higher grade.  For instance, if your report is supposed to be on a historical figure, you might choose someone you find really interesting, like the first woman to be governor of a state in the U.S., or the man who invented Silly Putty. Even if you don’t have the option to choose your topic, you can often find something in your research that you find interesting. If your assignment is to give a report on the historical events of the 1960s in America, for example, you could focus your report on the way popular music reflected the events that occurred during that time. If you write about too broad of a topic, your report will seem disorganized, since you’ll be trying to cover too much information all at once. On the other hand, your topic shouldn’t be so narrow that you can’t find anything to write about. Try to find one aspect of the topic that has a lot of supporting details.  If you’re not sure what to write about at first, pick a larger topic, then narrow it down as you start researching. For instance, if you wanted to do your report on World Fairs, then you realize that there are way too many of them to talk about, you might choose one specific world fair, such as the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, to focus on. However, you wouldn’t necessarily want to narrow it down to something too specific, like “Food at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition,” since it could be hard to find sources on the subject without just listing a lot of recipes.

SUMMARY: Read the report prompt or guidelines carefully. Choose a topic you find interesting. Try to pick a topic that is as specific as possible.


INPUT ARTICLE: Article: The scrotum of a bull should look football shaped, and for most yearlings, scrotal circumference should range from 35" to 40", depending on the breed.  Smaller bulls tend to have smaller scrotal circumferences than big bulls. Irregular shaped testicles (uneven size, epididymis not at the bottom of the testes, etc.) can be genetically passed on to sons and daughters. Scrotal conformation in sons could be worse, and in daughters, udder conformation could cause decrease in milking ability, large teats, sagginess in the udder, and cause the udder to break down early. A cow should have an udder with uniform quarters and small teats. Each teat should be equally spaced under each quarter.  Teats should not be large, as large teats make it more difficult for a newborn calf to latch onto and suckle from or to get adequate colostrum from. The udder should the tucked neatly away in between her hind legs, with a level udder floor and no exhibition of any quartering (i.e., one quarter is larger than the other).  The udder should blend in with the lower part of the belly quite smoothly, with no V or crevice between the udder and the belly. It should attach high up behind the back legs, and not be tilted up in front or down in the back. The median suspensory ligament is responsible for proper attachment to the cow's body wall.  A poor suspensory ligament will allow the udder to hang down too far from the body and subjects the udder to serious problems like mastitis and risk of injury. Like in dairy cows, producers that select for more milk production in terms of higher maternal weaning weight and milk Expected Progeny Difference (EPD) values have a moderate genetic antagonism with udder quality. Thus, it is always best to match genetics with environmental conditions you are raising your cattle in, and never go to extremes, especially with beef cows.

SUMMARY: Scrotal conformation in bulls: Teat and udder conformation in cows: Poor udder conformation in your beef or dairy herd will reduce udder longevity of your cattle.


INPUT ARTICLE: Article: It's hard to know what to do with something on a five year plan list like, "Be a better person," because it's hard to define what will make that so. Try to stay focused, instead, on tangible goals that you can accomplish in a real way, or can research the steps necessary to complete. Be as specific as possible and your plan will have a much higher chance of succeeding. In each category, Try to identify the things that you feel are the most important to you at this time. Try to keep it to no more than a handful of important goals, because you need to narrow your focus and think specifically about the subsidiary goals for each item.  In the margin of each list, label every item on the list either A, B, or C. Label an A goal as a goal that is extremely important to you and that you want or need the most. Label a C goal as something that would be nice to have, but isn't something that you really want or need. If a goal is in between the two categories, label it a B goal. In order to find out what your priorities are, be as honest as possible. Once you've organized your list into the most important items of your five year plan, it's time to get out a new piece of paper, or open a new document. It's important to address each goal individually, especially if it's complicated enough to spend time working on. If you identified, "Get a graduate degree" on your list as an important item, make a separate list for each goal that you identify as being very important, such as this. Even if it seems simple, something like, "Get organized," it's still important to treat that with as much attention as possible. What needs to happen for you to accomplish your long term goal of getting organized, or of getting a graduate degree? What needs to happen for your goal to become a reality? You might need to do a little research to find out for sure what needs to happen to turn your goals into a reality. Once you have your subsidiary goals in place, separate them into the individual years, to translate your long term goals into a series of short terms goals that you can accomplish, in order. What needs to be accomplished to move closer to meeting your goal by the end of year one? Year two? What can you do today to start moving toward your long-term goals? Make each list as specific as possible and continue breaking it down to make the list more manageable. How deep you get will depend on how much you have to add to each item on the list, and how much guidance you require for a five year plan. If you want to get a graduate degree in the next five years, what do you hope to have done by the end of this year? What can you finish at the end of the week to move yourself closer? What can you do right now?

SUMMARY:
Be as specific as possible. Identify the most important items on each list. Make a separate list for each item. Identify subsidiary goals for each item. Write an item for each year. Narrow your focus.