1. Reading and writing assignment You will write a 1000 word report on an article (or articles) that you have chosen to read. You will submit the report in week 9. You will give a brief (5 minute) talk on your topic in week 7. You will receive support through tutorials throughout this piece of work. Your first task is to find something to read and show it to Mark. Relatively short texts will be fine to work with. A feature in a magazine like the Economist, for example, should be fine.

2. Graduate Diploma Reading & Writing Session 9 Paraphrasing Summarising

3. Today’s materials are adapted from Stephen Bailey (2007), Academic Writing : A Handbook for International Students - Second Edition, Routledge

4. Ancient Egypt collapsed in about 2180 BC. Studies conducted of the mud from the River Nile showed that at this time the mountainous regions which feed the Nile suffered from a prolonged drought. This would have had a devastating effect on the ability of Egyptian society to feed itself. Can you summarise this in around 20 words? Studies show that a drought in the mountainous regions feeding the Nile led to the collapse of Ancient Egypt in about 2180.

5. Ancient Egypt collapsed in about 2180 BC. Studies conducted of the mud from the River Nile showed that at this time the mountainous regions which feed the Nile suffered from a prolonged drought. This would have had a devastating effect on the ability of Egyptian society to feed itself. Which of these paraphrases is better? A.The sudden ending of Egyptian civilization over 4000 years ago was probably caused by changes in the weather in the region to the south. Without the regular river flooding there would not have been enough food. B.Research into deposits of the Egyptian Nile indicate that a long dry period in the mountains at the river’s source may have led to a lack of water for irrigation around 2180 BC, which was when the collapse of Egyptian society began.

6. Ancient Egypt collapsed in about 2180 BC. Studies conducted of the mud from the River Nile showed that at this time the mountainous regions which feed the Nile suffered from a prolonged drought. This would have had a devastating effect on the ability of Egyptian society to feed itself. Which of these paraphrases is better? A.The sudden ending of Egyptian civilization over 4000 years ago was probably caused by changes in the weather in the region to the south. Without the regular river flooding there would not have been enough food. B.Research into deposits of the Egyptian Nile indicate that a long dry period in the mountains at the river’s source may have led to a lack of water for irrigation around 2180 BC, which was when the collapse of Egyptian society began.

7. Can you find the underlined information from our source text in the paraphrased paragraph? Ancient Egypt collapsed in about 2180 BC. Studies conducted of the mud from the River Nile showed that at this time the mountainous regions which feed the Nile suffered from a prolonged drought. This would have had a devastating effect on the ability of Egyptian society to feed itself. Research into deposits of the Egyptian Nile indicate that a long dry period in the mountains at the river’s source may have led to a lack of water for irrigation around 2180 BC, which was when the collapse of Egyptian society began.

8. Can you find the underlined information from our source text in the paraphrased paragraph? Ancient Egypt collapsed in about 2180 BC. Studies conducted of the mud from the River Nile showed that at this time the mountainous regions which feed the Nile suffered from a prolonged drought. This would have had a devastating effect on the ability of Egyptian society to feed itself. Research into deposits of the Egyptian Nile indicate that a long dry period in the mountains at the river’s source may have led to a lack of water for irrigation around 2180 BC, which was when the collapse of Egyptian society began.

9. USING VOCABULARY TO PARAPHRASE

10. The growth of the car industry parallels the development of modern capitalism. It began in France and Germany, but took off in the United States. There Henry Ford adapted the moving production line from the Chicago meat industry to motor manufacturing, thus inventing mass production. The rise of the 1.____________ industry 2. ____________ the 3. ____________ of 4. ____________ capitalism. It 5. ____________ in France and Germany, but 6. ____________ in the United States. There Henry Ford 7. ____________ the moving 8. ____________ line from the Chicago meat industry to 9. ____________ manufacturing, 10. ____________ inventing mass production. CONTEMPORARYPROGRESSMODIFIED STARTEDACCELERATEDASSEMBLY CARTHEREBYAUTOMOBILE MATCHES

11. KEY The growth of the car industry parallels the development of modern capitalism. It began in France and Germany, but took off in the United States. There Henry Ford adapted the moving production line from the Chicago meat industry to motor manufacturing, thus inventing mass production. The rise of the AUTOMOBILE industry MATCHES the PROGRESS of CONTEMPORARY capitalism. It STARTED in France and Germany, but ACCELERATED in the United States. There Henry Ford MODIFIED the moving ASSEMBLY line from the Chicago meat industry to CAR manufacturing, THEREBY inventing mass production.

12. USING WORD FORM

13. In the 1920s Alfred Sloan’s management theories helped General Motors to become the world’s dominant car company. After the Second World War the industry developed “planned obsolescence”, whereby frequent model changes encouraged customers to buy new cars more often than they needed to. Later, from the 1970s, environmentalists began to criticize the industry for producing inefficient models which used too much fuel, contributing to global warming. In the 1920s, with 1.___________ from the 2. ___________ theories of Alfred Sloan, General Motors 3. ___________ the world’s car companies. After the Second World War, the 4. ___________ of “planned obsolescence” by the industry encouraged customers to buy new cars more often than they needed to by increasing the 5. ___________ of model changes. Later, from the 1970s, environmental 6.___________ of the industry focused on the 7. ___________ of inefficient models which used too much fuel, contributing to global warming.

14. In the 1920s Alfred Sloan’s management theories helped General Motors to become the world’s dominant car company. After the Second World War the industry developed “planned obsolescence”, whereby frequent model changes encouraged customers to buy new cars more often than they needed to. Later, from the 1970s, environmentalists began to criticize the industry for producing inefficient models which used too much fuel, contributing to global warming. KEY In the 1920s, with help from the managerial theories of Alfred Sloan, General Motors dominated the world’s car companies. After the Second World War, the development of “planned obsolescence” by the industry encouraged customers to buy new cars more often than they needed to by increasing the frequency of model changes. Later, from the 1970s, environmental criticism of the industry focused on the production of inefficient models which used too much fuel, contributing to global warming.

15. USING WORD ORDER

16. At this time, trade unions became increasingly militant in defence of their members’ jobs. Today the industry owns some of the strongest brands in the world. However, many major car companies struggle with stagnant markets and falling profits. At this time 1._____________ militant trade unions 2. _____________ their members’ jobs. Some of the strongest brands in the world 3._____________ are owned by the industry. Many major car companies,4. _____________, struggle with falling profits and stagnant markets.

17. At this time, trade unions became increasingly militant in defence of their members’ jobs. Today the industry owns some of the strongest brands in the world. However, many major car companies struggle with stagnant markets and falling profits. KEY At this time increasingly militant trade unions defended their members’ jobs. Some of the strongest brands in the world today are owned by the industry. Many major car companies, however, struggle with falling profits and stagnant markets.

18. SUMMARIES

19. 1.Use your own words 2.Key points 3.Important ideas 4.Order of ideas where necessary Read the following text on summarizing and complete the list of stages below: A summary may be just one or two sentences, to explain the main idea of the article, and perhaps compare it with another summarized text, or it might be necessary to include much more detail. In other words, a summary can range from 1-2% of the original to more than 50%: summarizing is a flexible tool. At first students need to follow a series of steps to summarise successfully. With practice the number of steps may be reduced, as the process becomes more automatic. a)Read the text carefully and check key vocabulary. b)Underline or highlight the… c)Make notes of these, taking care to… d)Write the summary using notes, re-organising the… e)Check the summary to make sure no … have been omitted or distorted

20. a)Read the text carefully and check key vocabulary. b)Underline or highlight the key points. c)Make notes of these, taking care to use your own words. d)Write the summary using notes, re-organising the order of ideas where necessary. e)Check the summary to make sure no Important ideas have been omitted or distorted

21. Read the following text and make notes on its key points: Researchers in France and the United States have recently reported that baboons are able to think abstractly. It has been known for some time that chimpanzees are capable of abstract thought, but baboons are a more distant relation to mankind. In the experiment, scientists trained two baboons to use a personal computer and a joystick. The animals had to match computer designs which were basically the same, but had superficial differences. In the experiment the baboons performed better than would be expected by chance. The researchers describe their study in an article in the Journal of Experimental Psychology.

22. Do your notes feature the underlined ideas?: Researchers in France and the United States have recently reported that baboons are able to think abstractly. It has been known for some time that chimpanzees are capable of abstract thought, but baboons are a more distant relation to mankind. In the experiment, scientists trained two baboons to use a personal computer and a joystick. The animals had to match computer designs which were basically the same, but had superficial differences. In the experiment the baboons performed better than would be expected by chance. The researchers describe their study in an article in the Journal of Experimental Psychology.

23. Now the summaries which follow the text. Which one is the best? Researchers in France and the United States have recently reported that baboons are able to think abstractly. It has been known for some time that chimpanzees are capable of abstract thought, but baboons are a more distant relation to mankind. In the experiment, scientists trained two baboons to use a personal computer and a joystick. The animals had to match computer designs which were basically the same, but had superficial differences. In the experiment the baboons performed better than would be expected by chance. The researchers describe their study in an article in the Journal of Experimental Psychology. a)French and American scientists have shown for the first time that baboons have the ability to think in an abstract way. The animals were taught to use a computer and then had to select patterns that were similar, which they did at a better rate than chance. b)Baboons are a kind of monkey more distance from man than chimpanzees. Although it is known that chimpanzees are able to think abstractly, until recently it was not clear if baboons could do the same. But new research by various scientists has shown that this is so. c)According to a recent article in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, baboons are able to think in an abstract way. The article describes how researchers trained two baboons to use a personal computer and a joystick. The animals did better than would be expected.

24. Did you consider these to be the key points? Researchers in France and the United States have recently reported that baboons are able to think abstractly. It has been known for some time that chimpanzees are capable of abstract thought, but baboons are a more distant relation to mankind. In the experiment, scientists trained two baboons to use a personal computer and a joystick. The animals had to match computer designs which were basically the same, but had superficial differences. In the experiment the baboons performed better than would be expected by chance. The researchers describe their study in an article in the Journal of Experimental Psychology. a)French and American scientists have shown for the first time that baboons have the ability to think in an abstract way. The animals were taught to use a computer and then had to select patterns that were similar, which they did at a better rate than chance. b)Baboons are a kind of monkey more distance from man than chimpanzees. Although it is known that chimpanzees are able to think abstractly, until recently it was not clear if baboons could do the same. But new research by various scientists has shown that this is so. c)According to a recent article in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, baboons are able to think in an abstract way. The article describes how researchers trained two baboons to use a personal computer and a joystick. The animals did better than would be expected.

25. Now read the following text and compare the summaries which follow. Which one is the best? Researchers in France and the United States have recently reported that baboons are able to think abstractly. It has been known for some time that chimpanzees are capable of abstract thought, but baboons are a more distant relation to mankind. In the experiment, scientists trained two baboons to use a personal computer and a joystick. The animals had to match computer designs which were basically the same, but had superficial differences. In the experiment the baboons performed better than would be expected by chance. The researchers describe their study in an article in the Journal of Experimental Psychology. a)French and American scientists have shown for the first time that baboons have the ability to think in an abstract way. The animals were taught to use a computer and then had to select patterns that were similar, which they did at a better rate than chance. b)Baboons are a kind of monkey more distance from man than chimpanzees. Although it is known that chimpanzees are able to think abstractly, until recently it was not clear if baboons could do the same. But new research by various scientists has shown that this is so. c)According to a recent article in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, baboons are able to think in an abstract way. The article describes how researchers trained two baboons to use a personal computer and a joystick. The animals did better than would be expected.