- •Lesson 2. Reading and note-making. Evaluating a text. Note-making and paraphrasing. Evaluating a Text
- •1. When reading a text, it is important to ask yourself questions about the value of the text. Is this text fact or opinion? If fact, is it true? If opinion, do I agree? Can this writer be trusted?
- •2. Read the following sentences and decide first if they are fact or opinion. Then decide if the factual sentences are true, and if you agree with the opinions in the other sentences.
- •3. It can be seen that even short sentences can contain a mixture of fact and opinion. Most longer texts, of course, consist of both.
- •4. The previous sentences can be evaluated as follows:
- •5. Evaluate the following passages in a similar way. First underline facts and opinion, then decide if the text as a whole is trustworthy.
- •Understanding Purpose and Register
- •1. Compare the two extracts below:
- •2. Read the following extracts and complete the table using one or two of the following: inform/amuse/persuade/entertain.
- •3. Register.
- •5. Read the following texts and analyse the register in each case, by giving examples of the language used.
- •Selecting Key Points
- •1. The first stage of note-making is to identify the key points in the text for your purpose.
- •2. Read the following and then choose a suitable title that expresses the key
- •3. In the following text, three key points are in italic. Decide on their order of importance.
- •4. Underline four key points in the following text.
- •5. When preparing to write an essay you may be concerned with only one aspect of a text, so your key points should relate only to the topic you are examining.
- •Note-Making
- •1. What are the main reasons for note-making?
- •3. You are writing an essay on ‘Conservation at sea’. You find the following article in a magazine called Science South, volume 27 (2002). The author is
- •4. A set of notes for your essay might look like this:
- •Paraphrasing
- •1. Although paraphrasing techniques are used in summary writing, paraphrasing does not aim to shorten the length of a text, merely to restate the text.
- •2. A good paraphrase is significantly different from the wording of the original, without altering the meaning at all.
- •3. Techniques.
- •4. Find synonyms for the words in italic.
- •5. Change the word class of the words in italic, and then re-write the sentences.
- •6. Change the word order of the following sentences.
- •7. Combine all these techniques to paraphrase the paragraph as fully as possible.
- •8. Use the same techniques to paraphrase the following text.
- •Summary Writing
- •1. Choose four of the topics below and write summaries in no more than twelve words each.
- •2. Summary writing is an important skill in academic work. Different kinds of summaries are needed in different situations.
- •3. In essay writing students often have to summarise part of a book or journal article.
- •4. Read the following text and compare the summaries. Decide which is best, giving reasons.
- •5. Read the following text and underline the key points.
- •6. Complete the following notes of the key points.
- •7. Link the notes together to make a complete summary using conjunctions where necessary. Check the final text for factual accuracy.
- •1. Read the example, from a study of women’s experience of prison.
- •2. Below are two sources used for an essay titled ‘Should genetically modified (gm) foods have a role in future agriculture?’ Read the sources first, then the essay extract.
- •3. The essay writer uses a mixture of direct quotes and summaries of arguments.
- •4. You are preparing to write an essay titled ‘The social effects of tourism in developing countries’. Read the sources and then complete the paragraph comparing their views.
3. The essay writer uses a mixture of direct quotes and summaries of arguments.
a) Find an example of each.
b) What phrase does the writer use to mark the point where he moves from dealing with Source A to Source B?
c) List all the phrases used to introduce summaries.
It has been claimed that …………
4. You are preparing to write an essay titled ‘The social effects of tourism in developing countries’. Read the sources and then complete the paragraph comparing their views.
SOURCE C
When countries begin to provide facilities for mass tourism, such as hotels and leisure complexes, there is an immediate demand for labour. Work is created for cleaners, waiters,gardeners and drivers on a scale which may significantly boost the local economy. Such work may provide opportunities to learn valuable new skills. For many, these semi-skilled jobs provide an attractive alternative to subsistence agriculture or fishing, while at the same time the tax revenues from their earnings increase the national income.
SOURCE D
One inevitable feature of tourism’s growth is the creation of badly-paid, seasonal jobs in holiday resorts. Much of this work combines insecurity with long hours of work in poor conditions. In Thailand, for example, there are cases of hotel maids working 15 hour days for less than $4. Moreover, the combination of wealthy tourists being served by exploited waitresses is likely to increase social tensions in these areas. Another risk is that natural or human disasters such as wars and earthquakes may drive visitors away without warning, leaving tens of thousands unemployed.
SOURCE E
It has been claimed that the development of tourism played a major part in helping to modernise parts of Franco’s Spain in the 1960s. The presence of easy-going, affluent visitors apparently encouraged the locals to learn new skills and open new businesses. Despite this positive interpretation, many examples could be presented where the arrival of rich and idle tourists has been an encouragement for crime, prostitution and other less desirable aspects of the modern economy. Much seems to depend on the economic alternatives offered by the society, and of course the scale of tourist arrivals.
It has been argued that tourism can have a very positive social influence on a developing country…………