Background to Writing

Background to Writing
Most university and college students are assessed through the production of written assignments. Some of the terms used to describe different types of assignments can be confusing. In addition,
students need to be clear about the basic components of written texts.

This unit provides an introduction to these topics.
2. Organisation of texts.
a) Explain the following terms in italics:
Shorter texts, e.g. essays, are normally organised:
Introduction > Main Body > Conclusion
Longer texts, e.g. dissertations and articles, may include
(depending on subject area):
Abstract > Contents > Introduction > Main Body > Case Study
> Discussion > Findings > Conclusion > Acknowledgements >
Bibliography/References > Appendices
Books may also contain:
Dedication > Foreword > Preface > Index

b) Match the definitions below to one of the terms in (2a).
i) Short summary (100–200 words) of the writer’s purpose and findings (......)
ii) Section where various people who assisted the writer are thanked (......)
iii) Final part where extra data, too detailed for the main text, are stored (......)
iv) List of all the books that the writer has consulted (......)
v) Section looking at a particular example, relevant to the main topic (......)
vi) Introductory part of the book which may give the writer’s motives (......)
vii) Alphabetical list of all topics in the text (......)

3. Other text features
Abbreviations are often used to save space:
Call centres (CCs) feature prominently in the technology mix . . .
Italics are used to show titles and words from other languages:
Where once the titles of Armchair Theatre and The Wednesday Play celebrated . . .
Squatter housing (called gecekondu in Turkish) . . .
Footnotes are used to indicate references at the bottom of the page:
In respect of Singapore the consensus is that the government has made a difference.
Endnotes are given to show references at the end of the article or chapter:
The market for masonry construction may be divided into housing and non-housing sectors

4. All types of writing consist of a number of key elements.
Label the italic items in the text.
a) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . THE ORIGINS OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
b) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Introduction
c) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . It is generally agreed that the Industrial Revolution began in Britain
during the eighteenth century, with significant developments in the iron, steel and textile industries. But it is less clear what caused this sudden increase in production in key areas; different writers have examined the availability of capital, the growth of urban populations and the political
d) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . and religious climate. All of these may have played a part, but first it is necessary to consider the precise nature of what is meant by ‘industrial revolution’.
e) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Industry had existed for thousands of years prior to the eighteenth century, but before this time society as a whole remained agricultural. With the arrival of the ironworks and cotton mills whole towns were dominated by industrial activity. At the same time, agriculture itself went through significant changes which produced more food for the growing urban population.

5. Why are all texts divided into paragraphs? How long are paragraphs?
Read the following text, from the introduction to an essay, and divide it into a suitable number of paragraphs.

INVESTMENT
Most people want to invest for the future, to cover unexpected financial difficulties and provide them with security. Different people, however, tend to have different requirements, so that a 25-year-old just leaving university would be investing for the long term, whereas a 60-year-old who had just retired would probably invest for income. Despite these differences, certain principles apply in most cases. The first issue to consider is risk. In general, the greater the degree of risk in investment, the higher the return. Shares, for example, which can quickly rise or fall in value, typically have a higher yield than bonds, which offer good security but only pay about 5%. Therefore all investors must decide how much risk is appropriate in their particular situation. Diversification must also be considered in an investment strategy. Wise investors usually seek to spread their investments across a variety of geographical and business sectors. As accurate predictions of the future are almost impossible, it is best to have as many options as possible. A further consideration is investor involvement. Some investors opt for a high degree of involvement and want to buy and sell regularly, constantly watching the markets. Others want to invest and then forget about it. Personal involvement can be time-consuming and worrying, and many prefer to leave the management of their portfolios to professional fund managers.

Avoiding Plagiarism
All students have to face the issue of plagiarism. Plagiarism means taking information or ideas from another writer and using them in your own work, without acknowledging the source in an accepted manner. In academic work plagiarism can be a serious offence. This unit outlines the situation, but to fully avoid plagiarism students need to master the skills practised in units 1.6–1.10.

1. Which of the following would be considered as plagiarism?
a) Not providing a reference when you have used somebody’s idea.
b) Copying a few sentences from an article on the internet without giving a reference.
c) Not giving a reference when you use commonly accepted ideas, e.g. Aids is a growing problem.
d) Giving the reference but not using quotation marks when you take a sentence from another writer’s article.
e) Taking a paragraph from a classmate’s essay without giving a reference.
f) Presenting the results of your own research.

2. To avoid plagiarism, and also to save having lengthy quotations in your work, it is necessary to paraphrase and summarise the original. Instead of this, students sometimes hope that changing a few words of the original will avoid charges of plagiarism. Clearly, you are not expected to alter every word of the original text, but your summary must be substantially different from the original.

Read the following extract on twentieth-century educational developments from Age of Extremes by E. Hobsbawm:

Almost as dramatic as the decline and fall of the peasantry, and much more universal, was the rise of the occupations which required secondary and higher education. Universal primary education, i.e. basic literacy, was indeed the aspiration of virtually all governments, so much so that by the late 1980s only the most honest or helpless states admitted to having as many as half their population illiterate, and only ten – all but Afghanistan in Africa – were prepared to concede that less than 20% of their population could read or write. (Hobsbawm, 1994, p. 295)

Which of the following are plagiarised and which are acceptable?
a) Almost as dramatic as the decline and fall of the peasantry, and much more general, was the rise of the professions which required secondary and higher education. Primary education for all, i.e. basic literacy, was indeed the aspiration of almost all governments, so much so that by the late 1980s only the most honest countries confessed to having as many as half their population illiterate, and only ten – all but Afghanistan in Africa – were prepared to admit that less than 20% of their population could read or write. (Hobsbawm, 1994, p. 295)
b) Nearly as dramatic as the decline of the peasantry was the rise of professions which required secondary and higher education. Primary education for everyone (basic literacy) was the aspiration of nearly all governments, so that by the late 1980s only the very honest countries confessed to having as many as half their population illiterate. Only ten (African) countries
conceded that less than 20% of their population were literate. (Hobsbawm, 1994, p. 295)
c) As Hobsbawm (1994) argues, there was a marked increase in jobs needing secondary or higher education during the twentieth century. All but a few nations claimed that the majority of their people were literate. Universal primary education i.e. basic literacy was indeed the aspiration of virtually all governments. (p. 295)
d) There was a sharp and widespread increase in occupations requiring education above primary level. All governments set out to provide basic education, essentially literacy, for their people. By the end of the 1980s very few states would admit that the majority of their population were unable to read. (Hobsbawm, 1994, p. 295)