It can be seen that even short sentences can contain a mixture of fact and opinion. Most longer texts, of course, consist of both.

Evaluating a Text

Having understood the title and made an outline plan, your next step is probably to read around the subject. Although you may be given a reading list, it is still vital to be able to assess the usefulness of journal articles and books. Time spent learning these skills will be repaid by saving you from using unreliable or irrelevant materials.

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.

Opinion Agree or True or

Or fact? disagree? false?

a) The USA has the biggest economy in the world

b) Shakespeare wrote textbooks

c) Shakespeare was a great writer

d) Smoking can be dangerous

e) Too many people (32%) smoke in Britain

f) 95% of criminals cannot read

g) Poor education causes 75% of crime

It can be seen that even short sentences can contain a mixture of fact and opinion. Most longer texts, of course, consist of both.

Read the following and underline facts (____) and opinions ().

a) Britain has one of the highest crime rates in the world.

b) A robbery takes place every five seconds. A car is stolen every minute. Clearly, criminals are not afraid of the police.

c) Even if they are caught, few criminals ever appear in court.

d) Most of those who are found guilty are let off with a tiny fine.

e) To restore law and order, we need many more police and much tougher punishments.

4. The previous sentences can be evaluated as follows:

a) Fact, but only partly true. Britain does not have one of the highest overall crime rates in the world. For some crimes, e.g. car crime, the rate is high, but other countries, e.g. South Africa and the USA, have much higher rates of violent crime.

b) These facts may or may not be true, but it is not clear from them that criminals are unafraid of the police.

c) Fact, but not true. A significant number of those arrested are charged and later prosecuted.

d) This statement is vague. A fine is not letting off. What is meant by tiny?

e) This is a half-truth. More police would probably help reduce crime, but it is not clear if stronger punishments would have that result.

From this it can be seen that even if the facts are correct, the opinions that are expressed may not be reliable. The evaluation above would suggest that the writer of the original text could not be trusted, and it would be better to look for another source.

5. Evaluate the following passages in a similar way. First underline facts and opinion, then decide if the text as a whole is trustworthy.

a) Every year large numbers of students travel abroad to study at university. Most of them spend thousands of pounds on their degree courses. The cost of travel and accommodation adds significantly to their expenses. But they could save a lot of money by studying their courses online, using the internet and email. Increasing numbers of universities are offering tuition by the internet, and this has many advantages for students. In the future most students are likely to stay at home and study in front of a computer.

b) London is an ideal city for young students. Britain’s lively capital, with a population of two million, is the perfect place to live and study. Cheap, comfortable accommodation is always available, and transport is provided by the clean and reliable underground system. Another advantage is the friendly citizens, who are well-known for their custom of stopping to chat with strangers. Overall, London is probably the best place in the world to study English.

c) A leading academic has claimed that European unemployment has been made worse by high rates of home ownership. He argues that the growing trend towards owneroccupation is the best explanation for the high rates of unemployment in Europe. This, he argues, is because home owning makes people more reluctant to move if they lose their job. His research suggests that a strong private rented sector is the key to low unemployment. For example, Ireland, where only 9% rent their homes, has an unemployment rate of 8%. At the other extreme, Switzerland has a rental rate of 60%, but only 3% are unemployed.

d) Global warming affects most people in the world, especially those living in low-lying areas near the sea. It has been predicted that the melting of polar ice may cause the sea to rise by as much as twelve metres by 2050. This would cause flooding in many major coastal cities, such as Tokyo. It has been suggested that the best solution to this problem may be for mankind to become amphibious, like frogs. It is argued that life was originally found in the sea, and so it would merely be a return to our original habitat.

e) There is shocking new evidence of the effects of heavy alcohol consumption by young people. In Britain in 2000 nearly 800 people under 44 died from cirrhosis of the liver, a condition which is mainly caused by excess drinking. This is over four times higher than the number in 1970. As a result, the government is studying the possibility of compulsory health warnings on alcohol advertising. The growing problem seems to be due to ‘binge’ drinking among the young, when drinkers deliberately set out to get drunk.

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.

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?

Selecting Key Points

After selecting and understanding the most relevant texts, the next step is usually to make notes on the sections of the texts that relate to your topic. Units 5–8 practise this process, which involves a number of inter-linked skills.

Point.

TITLE:.........................

Dean Kamen is a 50-year-old American eccentric who is also a multi-millionaire. He always wears blue denim shirts and jeans, even when visiting his friend, the president, in the White House. He flies to work by helicopter, which he also uses for visiting his private island off the coast of Connecticut. As an undergraduate Kamen developed the first pump that would give regular doses of medicine to patients. The patent for this and other original medical inventions has produced a huge income, allowing him to run his own research company which, among many other projects, has produced the iBot, the world’s first wheelchair which can climb stairs.

3. In the following text, three key points are in italic. Decide on their order of importance.

HOT RUBBISH

a) The majority of people in the small Derbyshire village of Poolsbrook have joined a scheme to make power from rubbish. b) Methane gas will be collected from the local rubbish tip and will be used to heat houses more cheaply and generate electricity. The villagers, who have been affected by the closure of the local coal mines, suffer from Reading and Note-Making unemployment, so cheap heating is especially important for them. They have raised the Ј2 million cost from development agencies. c) The new system, which will be the first of its kind in Europe, will lead to a healthier environment by cutting CO2 emissions, and should also create three full-time jobs.

1).......................

2).......................

3).......................

4. Underline four key points in the following text.

THE SIXTH WAVE?

Lord May, the president of the Royal Society, has claimed that the world is facing a wave of extinctions similar to the five mass extinctions of past ages. He calculates that the current rate of extinction is between 100 and 1,000 times faster than the historical average. The cause of previous extinctions, such as the one which killed the dinosaurs, is uncertain, but was probably an external event such as collision with a comet.

However the present situation is caused by human consumption of plants, which has resulted in a steady increase in agriculture and a consequent reduction in habitat for animals. Although many people are still hungry, food production has increased by 100% since 1965.

Lord May also pointed out that it was very difficult to make accurate estimates as nobody knew how many species of animals lived on the planet. So far 1.5 million species had been named, but the true figure might be as high as 100 million. Our ignorance of this made it almost impossible to work out the actual rate of extinction. However, the use of intelligent guesses suggests that losses over the past century were comparable with the extinctions of earlier periods, evidence of which is found in the fossil record.

Note-Making

Effective note-making is a key writing skill, with a number of practical uses. Good note-making techniques lead to accurate essays. Although you are the only person who will read your notes, clarity and organisation are still important.

Add to the ideas below.

a) to avoid plagiarism

b) …………

c) …………

d) …………

2. Effective note-making is part of a sequence.

Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing involves changing a text so that it is quite dissimilar to the source yet retains all the meaning. This skill is useful in several areas of academic work, but this unit focuses on using paraphrasing in note-making and summary writing. Effective paraphrasing is vital in academic writing to avoid the risk of plagiarism.

Techniques.

a) Changing vocabulary:

studies > research

society > civilisation

mud > deposits

b) Changing word class:

Egypt (n.) > Egyptian (adj.)

mountainous regions (adj. + n.) > in the mountains (n.)

c) Changing word order:

Ancient Egypt collapsed > the collapse of Egyptian society began

4. Find synonyms for the words in italic.

a) Sleep scientists have found that traditional remedies for insomnia, such as counting sheep, are ineffective.

Example:

Sleep researchers have found that established cures for insomnia, for instance counting sheep, do not work.

b) Instead, they have found that imagining a pleasant scene is likely to send you to sleep quickly.

c) The research team divided 50 insomnia sufferers into three groups.

d) One group was told to imagine a waterfall, while another group tried sheep counting.

5. Change the word class of the words in italic, and then re-write the sentences.

a) A third group was given no special instructions about going to sleep.

Example:

A third group was not specially instructed about going to sleep.

b) It was found that the group thinking of waterfalls fell asleep 20 minutes quicker.

c) Mechanical tasks like counting sheep are apparently too boring to make people sleepy.

6. Change the word order of the following sentences.

a) There are many practical applications to research into insomnia.

Example:

Research into insomnia has many practical applications.

b) About one in ten people are thought to suffer from severe insomnia.

c) It is calculated that the cost of insomnia for the American economy may be $35 billion a year.

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

Combining Sources

Most essays require the writer to read more than one book or article. The differences between the ideas of different writers may be the focus of the essay. This unit examines ways of presenting such contrasting views.

1. Read the example, from a study of women’s experience of prison.

According to Giallombardo (1966), women alleviated the pains of imprisonment by developing kinship links with other inmates. Similarly Heffernan (1972) found that adaptation to prison was facilitated by the creation of a pseudo-family. Owen (1998) also notes that the female subculture is based on personal relationships with other women inmates. Others, however, believe that the subculture in women’s prisons is undergoing a gradual shift that more closely resembles that of male prisons. Fox (1982) states, for example, that the cooperative caring prison community that has embodied characterizations of female prisons has evolved into a more dangerous and competitive climate.

a) How many writers are mentioned?

b) What is the function of the words in italics?

c) What phrase is used to mark the point in the text where there is a shift from one point of view to another?

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.

SOURCE A

Genetic modification (GM) is the most recent application of biotechnology to food, which can also be called genetic engineering or genetic manipulation. The phrase ‘Genetically Modified Organisms’ or GMOs is used frequently in the scientific literature to describe plants and animals which have had DNA introduced into them by means other than the ‘natural’ process of an egg and a sperm.

New species have always evolved through natural selection by means of random genetic variation. Early farmers used this natural variation to selectively breed wild animals, plants and even micro-organisms such as yogurt cultures and yeasts. They produced domesticated variants better suited to the needs of humans, long before the scientific basis for the process was understood. Despite this long history of careful improvement, such procedures are now labelled ‘interfering with nature’.

SOURCE B

Genetic modification (GM) is in fact far more than a mere development of selective breeding techniques. Combining genetic material from species that cannot breed naturally is an interference in areas which may be highly dangerous. The consequences of this kind of manipulation cannot be foreseen.

It seems undeniable that these processes may lead to major benefits in food production and the environment. There is no doubt, for example, that some medical advances may have saved millions of lives. However, this level of technology can contain a strong element of risk. Our ignorance of the long-term effects of releasing GM plants or even animals into the environment means that this step should only be taken after very careful consideration.

ESSAY EXTRACT

It has been claimed that GM technology is no different from breeding techniques which have been practised by man for thousands of years. Source A states that this process is similar to natural selection and remarks: ‘such procedures are now labelled “interfering with nature”’. On the other hand Source B considers that, although GM technology could bring considerable benefits in medicine and agriculture, it is quite different to traditional processes of selection. He believes that crossing the species barrier is a dangerous step and that there is insufficient knowledge of the long-term results of such developments.

Evaluating a Text

Having understood the title and made an outline plan, your next step is probably to read around the subject. Although you may be given a reading list, it is still vital to be able to assess the usefulness of journal articles and books. Time spent learning these skills will be repaid by saving you from using unreliable or irrelevant materials.

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.

Opinion Agree or True or

Or fact? disagree? false?

a) The USA has the biggest economy in the world

b) Shakespeare wrote textbooks

c) Shakespeare was a great writer

d) Smoking can be dangerous

e) Too many people (32%) smoke in Britain

f) 95% of criminals cannot read

g) Poor education causes 75% of crime

It can be seen that even short sentences can contain a mixture of fact and opinion. Most longer texts, of course, consist of both.

Read the following and underline facts (____) and opinions ().

a) Britain has one of the highest crime rates in the world.

b) A robbery takes place every five seconds. A car is stolen every minute. Clearly, criminals are not afraid of the police.

c) Even if they are caught, few criminals ever appear in court.

d) Most of those who are found guilty are let off with a tiny fine.

e) To restore law and order, we need many more police and much tougher punishments.

4. The previous sentences can be evaluated as follows:

a) Fact, but only partly true. Britain does not have one of the highest overall crime rates in the world. For some crimes, e.g. car crime, the rate is high, but other countries, e.g. South Africa and the USA, have much higher rates of violent crime.

b) These facts may or may not be true, but it is not clear from them that criminals are unafraid of the police.

c) Fact, but not true. A significant number of those arrested are charged and later prosecuted.

d) This statement is vague. A fine is not letting off. What is meant by tiny?

e) This is a half-truth. More police would probably help reduce crime, but it is not clear if stronger punishments would have that result.

From this it can be seen that even if the facts are correct, the opinions that are expressed may not be reliable. The evaluation above would suggest that the writer of the original text could not be trusted, and it would be better to look for another source.

5. Evaluate the following passages in a similar way. First underline facts and opinion, then decide if the text as a whole is trustworthy.

a) Every year large numbers of students travel abroad to study at university. Most of them spend thousands of pounds on their degree courses. The cost of travel and accommodation adds significantly to their expenses. But they could save a lot of money by studying their courses online, using the internet and email. Increasing numbers of universities are offering tuition by the internet, and this has many advantages for students. In the future most students are likely to stay at home and study in front of a computer.

b) London is an ideal city for young students. Britain’s lively capital, with a population of two million, is the perfect place to live and study. Cheap, comfortable accommodation is always available, and transport is provided by the clean and reliable underground system. Another advantage is the friendly citizens, who are well-known for their custom of stopping to chat with strangers. Overall, London is probably the best place in the world to study English.

c) A leading academic has claimed that European unemployment has been made worse by high rates of home ownership. He argues that the growing trend towards owneroccupation is the best explanation for the high rates of unemployment in Europe. This, he argues, is because home owning makes people more reluctant to move if they lose their job. His research suggests that a strong private rented sector is the key to low unemployment. For example, Ireland, where only 9% rent their homes, has an unemployment rate of 8%. At the other extreme, Switzerland has a rental rate of 60%, but only 3% are unemployed.

d) Global warming affects most people in the world, especially those living in low-lying areas near the sea. It has been predicted that the melting of polar ice may cause the sea to rise by as much as twelve metres by 2050. This would cause flooding in many major coastal cities, such as Tokyo. It has been suggested that the best solution to this problem may be for mankind to become amphibious, like frogs. It is argued that life was originally found in the sea, and so it would merely be a return to our original habitat.

e) There is shocking new evidence of the effects of heavy alcohol consumption by young people. In Britain in 2000 nearly 800 people under 44 died from cirrhosis of the liver, a condition which is mainly caused by excess drinking. This is over four times higher than the number in 1970. As a result, the government is studying the possibility of compulsory health warnings on alcohol advertising. The growing problem seems to be due to ‘binge’ drinking among the young, when drinkers deliberately set out to get drunk.