Tài liệu Academic Writing A Handbook for International Students part 4 pdf

20
The Writing Process: Reading and Note-making
d) She felt that the older she got, the less she really
knew.
e) The negotiation process reminded him of
a game of
chess.
f) By the end of the semester most students were
in the
red.
g) When a student arrived late, the teacher asked
if he
had had a good sleep.
h) He claimed that his book was
the most important work
of the century.
6. When writing academic work, it is important not to use
phrases met in non-academic texts, e.g. newspapers or
magazines. The features marked with an asterisk (*) above
should be avoided in academic writing.
Find examples of them in the sentences below and rewrite them
in more academic style.
a) Obesity is the most serious problem facing civilisation
today.
b) One cause is the famously healthy Western diet of
chocolate and hamburgers.
c) So people with podgy tummies should think about
fighting the flab.
d) They should pull themselves together, and get down
to the gym.
e) They must remember the saying: God helps those

who help themselves.
1.6 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 1.6–1.9 practise this process, which involves a
number of inter-linked skills. This unit deals with the identification of
relevant information and ideas.
1. The first stage of note-making is to identify the key points in
the text for your purpose. You are preparing to write an essay
on ‘Changing patterns of longevity’.
Study the following example (key points in italics).
WHY WOMEN LIVE LONGER
Despite the overall increase in life expectancy in Britain
over the past century, women still live significantly longer
than men. In fact, in 1900 men could expect to live to 49
and women to 52, a difference of three years, while now
the figures are 74 and 79, which shows that the gap has
increased to five years.
Various reasons have been suggested for this situation,
such as the possibility that men may die earlier because
they take more risks. But a team of British scientists have
recently found a likely answer in the immune system,
which protects the body from diseases. The thymus is the
organ which produces the T cells which actually combat
illnesses. Although both sexes suffer from deterioration
of the thymus as they age, women appear to have more
T cells in their bodies than men of the same age. It is this,
the scientists believe, that gives women better protection
from potentially fatal diseases such as influenza and
pneumonia.

Having selected these sections of the text, you can then go
on to make notes from them:
British women live longer than men: 79/ 74 years
reasons? new research suggests immune system/thymus >
T cells
women have more T cells than men = better protection
2.
Read the following and then choose a suitable title which
expresses the key 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
cross-reference
1.7 Note-making
22
The Writing Process: Reading and Note-making
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.
Underline three key points in the following text.
EMPOWERING HEALTHCARE
In many parts of the world hospitals have none of the

modern health equipment that is common in western
countries. This is partly because it is expensive, but also
because electricity supplies are often unreliable, while
trained staff who can read the complex displays may not
be available. Now, Freeplay Energy, the company which
developed the wind-up radio, is planning to introduce a
range of medical equipment which can be used in those
areas. All the machines will be of simple, robust design
which will either use solar power or foot pedals, making
expensive battery replacement unnecessary. Prototypes
are currently on trial in South African hospitals, where their
performance can be compared with more sophisticated
machines.
4.
Underline the 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
1.6 Selecting Key Points
23
century were comparable with the extinctions of earlier
periods, evidence of which is found in the fossil record.
5. When preparing to write an essay you may be concerned with
only one aspect of a text, so that your key points relate only to
the topic you are examining.
a) You are planning to write an essay on ‘Marketing – art or
science?’ Read the text below and underline the sections
relevant to your essay.
BOTTLED WATER UNDER ATTACK
The Water Companies Association (WCA) has claimed
that bottled water costs 700 times more than tap water,
but is often of inferior quality. The chief executive of the
WCA pointed out that although bottled water advertising
often associated the product with sport and health there
was no truth in this link. The reality, she said, was that
the packaging of bottled water was environmentally
damaging, since millions of empty bottles had to be
disposed of in rubbish tips. 2% of samples of bottled
water failed a purity test conducted by the Drinking Water
Inspectorate, while only 0.3% of tap water samples failed
the same test. Labels on bottled water often referred to
‘spring’ and ‘natural water’, which were meaningless

phrases. In addition, bottled water was imported from as
far as Korea and Kenya, which was a waste of resources.
These criticisms, however, were rejected by the British
Soft Drinks Association, which argued that bottled
water was a successful business founded on giving the
customers choice, quality and convenience.
b)
You are preparing an essay on ‘The application of DNA
research to the development of vaccines’. Read the text and
underline the relevant sections.
NEW LIGHT ON THE PLAGUE
The plague, which first struck Europe in the sixth century,
was one of the great disasters of history. In the fourteenth
century it became the Black Death, when it may have
killed one-third of the entire population. The microbe that
causes the disease lives on rats, and is passed on to
humans by the bite of a flea. It still survives today, though
outbreaks are less deadly: the World Health Organization
receives reports of 3,000 cases annually. Scientists
believe that the microbe was originally a stomach
infection, but evolved into a more lethal disease about
1,500 years ago.
Now the genetic code of the plague bacterium has been
‘read’ by scientists; a total of 465 million ‘letters’ of DNA.
They believe that this will help in the development of
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The Writing Process: Reading and Note-making
vaccines for the plague, one of which has begun clinical
trials. In parts of Africa drug-resistant strains of the
disease have evolved, which gives added importance

to the work, as does the threat that the plague might be
used as an agent of bacteriological warfare.