- •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. Register.
Compare the tone, or register, of the following:
a) These apparent failures often result from inadequate planning and management, especially the lack of integration of biophysical and socio-economic information into the effort. The lack of integration of information is, in fact, a limitation that has been emphasised by many authors working with agricultural and land use planning in recent years (see, for instance, Vaughan et al., 1995; and Chidley and Brook, 1997).
b) It was routine – an ordinary minor operation – except for a single extraordinary point. The patient was on an operating table in Milan. The doctors were in Washington, nearly 6,000 kilometres away. The news that, for the first time, a transatlantic operation had been carried out with a robot doctor in one continent copying the real-time hand movements of a live doctor in another, introduces a new medical age.
c) Legislation identifies the minimum space of 11 m3 that should be allocated to each person and should be adhered to especially if much of the room is taken up with essential furniture. Equally, the maximum height of a room is now accepted for such calculations as three metres. For example, in a room 5 m _4 m _3 m (high) this would provide initial space for five persons.
The first extract is an example of academic register, used, for instance, in dissertations and academic journals. This typically uses cautious language like apparent and often, as well as academic vocabulary (biophysical, socioeconomic), and will generally include references.
The second passage is journalistic. The first part attempts to interest the reader by presenting the story in a simple but dramatic way (a single extraordinary point). The importance of the news item is stressed by the claim a new medical age. Journalism often uses current idioms like real time.
The last extract uses a very formal tone, suitable for a semi-legal text. Verbs such as identifies, adhered to and allocated, the use of passives (be allocated), and special vocabulary (persons instead of the more normal people) are typical of this register.
4. Although it can be acceptable to use articles from newspapers, magazines and the internet, which are often more accessible and up to date, in academic work students need to be aware that these sources may have less credibility, and that material written for a wider readership tends to be less detailed.
Students need to be especially careful of taking journalistic phrases and using them in formal essays.
5. Read the following texts and analyse the register in each case, by giving examples of the language used.
a) Wherever possible complaints should be handled at a local level and without recourse to unduly formal proceedings. It is therefore essential that all staff who have contact with students are aware of the relevant procedures and are empowered to resolve issues as they arise. Staff dealing with complaints are encouraged, whenever practical, to meet with the complainant. Face-to-face discussions are often very helpful to establish the precise cause of dissatisfaction, to explore the remedy sought by the complainant and to foster a mutual understanding of the issues.
b) Studies of childhood imaginary companions have not yielded clear interactions with age and creativity. It could be suggested that the common assumption of imaginary companions being mainly a preschool phenomenon may have encouraged studies to use very young children as participants. In their review of the literature, Pearson and Mayer (1998) concluded that the experience of imaginary companions peaked in children aged between 2.5 and 3.5 years.
c) Amazing recent research by David Storey of Warwick University shows that businesses started by older people last longer than those started by younger entrepreneurs. He discovered that 70% of firms started by 50–55-year-olds survived for over three years, but only 30% for those of the 20–25 age group. As the numbers of old folk are increasing rapidly, such ‘grey entrepreneurs’ are likely to become more common. But what’s the secret of their remarkable success rate?