- •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.
7. Combine all these techniques to paraphrase the paragraph as fully as possible.
Sleep scientists have found that traditional remedies for insomnia, such as counting sheep, are ineffective. Instead, they have found that imagining a pleasant scene is likely to send you to sleep quickly. The research team divided 50 insomnia sufferers into three groups. One group imagined watching a waterfall, while another group tried sheep counting. A third group was given no special instructions about going to sleep. It was found that the group thinking of waterfalls fell asleep 20 minutes quicker. Mechanical tasks like counting sheep are apparently too boring to make people sleepy. There are many practical applications for research into insomnia. About one in ten people are thought to suffer from severe insomnia. It is calculated that the cost of insomnia for the American economy may be $35 billion a year.
8. Use the same techniques to paraphrase the following text.
Before the last century no humans had visited Antarctica, and even today the vast continent has a winter population of less than 200 people. However, a recent report from a New Zealand government agency outlines the scale of the pollution problem in the ice and snow. Although untouched compared with other regions in the world, the bitter cold of Antarctica means thatthe normal process of decay is prevented. As a result some research stations are surrounded by the rubbish of nearly 60 years’ operations.
Despite popular belief, the polar continent is really a desert, with less precipitation than the Sahara. In the past, snowfall slowly covered the waste left behind, like beer cans or dead ponies, but now, possibly due to global warming, the ice is thinning and these are being exposed. Over 10 years ago the countries using Antarctica agreed a treaty on waste disposal, under which everything is to be taken home, and this is slowly improving the situation. However, the scientists do not want everything removed. The remains of very early expeditions at the beginning of the twentieth century have acquired historical value and will be preserved.
Summary Writing
Making summaries is a common activity in everyday life. If a friend asks us about a book we are reading, we do not tell them about everything in the book. Instead, we make a summary of the most interesting and important aspects. The same principle applies to summarising in academic writing.
1. Choose four of the topics below and write summaries in no more than twelve words each.
Example:
Birmingham is a large industrial city in the English West Midlands.
a) Your home town
b) Bill Gates
c) Your academic subject
d) The last book you read
e) A film you saw recently
f) Your mother/father
Look at the summaries you have written above. What are the features of a successful summary?
2. Summary writing is an important skill in academic work. Different kinds of summaries are needed in different situations.
List as many study uses for summary writing as you can think of.
making notes from lectures
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