Ideas expressed by environmentalists

1. Оnсе people have fulfilled their basic human needs, they want to achieve а better

quality of life.

2. Interest in the environment tends to relate to the condition of the economic climate.

3. Environmentalism is а way of demonstrating political values.

4. It is essential for the environment to bе preserved, for the sake of оur future.

5. The awareness of еnvirоnmеntаl issues is not necessarily а modern concept,

6. Оnlу certain privileged sections of society have еnvirоnmеntаl соnсеrns.

Task 4. Reporting verbs

Use of a range of reporting verbs

When you produce an extended piece writing, you will frequently use ideas from other writers, either summarizing, paraphrasing, or mentioning them. Instead of always saying “X said that …”, you need to develop a range of different ways to report on what you want to include. This is a very important aspect of developing your academic style; choice of different verbs also allows you to show your opinion of what is being reported.

4.1 Try to extend your range of reporting verbs as you develop your academic skills. You can add these to the table. Useful website: http://www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk/

Reporting verbs

Argue	Describe
Believe	Maintain
Claim	Suggest
Report

 

Unit summary

 

1. Another student has asked you for advice about selecting texts to read. Write three good reasons for choosing one text rather than another.

a.___________________________________________________

b. __________________________________________________

c.___________________________________________________

2. The same student has asked you for advice about how to read а text. Write the three most useful pieces of advice that you would give.

a.___________________________________________________

b.___________________________________________________

c.___________________________________________________

3. Look at the table above which includes some of the most frequently used reporting verbs. Then, read sentences 1-7 and choose one of the verbs from the list to fill the gap in each sentence. Make sure that you are using the correct tense.

1. She _____________ that she was innocent, even after she had been found guilty and sent to prison.

2. Many people ______________ that this policy is flawed.

3. This document ____________ the main problems facing the British rail transportation system.

4. The article ___________ that perhaps global warming had not been scientifically proved.

5. However, a further article _________ that scientists had found a great deal of evidence to support the theory of global warming.

6. The boy ______ that he had paid for the jacket even though he had no receipt or other record of purchase.

7. The author ________ that tourism will clearly remain the most important source of income for Egypt despite a fall in tourist numbers last year.

Self work task:

Identify the ways of using evidence in the scientific paper in your research field.

 

UNIT 7

Theme: Avoiding plagiarism

Objectives: know about plagiarism; learn techniques to use sources for the writing

Methodical instructions: This theme must be worked out during two lessons a week according to timetable and its result can be achieved through extension the use of academic language in speech activity: speaking, reading, writing and listening:

- The formation of listening skills can be developed when using a class video;

- The development of writing skills must be exercised through self-work tasks;

- Reading skills should be improved in course of working on training materials the content

of which is intended to be understood in full;

- Speaking skills can be developed through active communication on the Unit’s topics.

Listening: Watch a video “What is plagiarism and how to avoid it” on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cha331v_vhY

After watching this video complete the following sentences:

1. The way that you present it as part of …, it looks like it was your idea.

2. But I can’t leave it out - Chan’s ideas are incredibly … to my argument.

3. That’s … and dishonesty.

4. Plagiarism can be … and non intentional.

5. You copy because you are … and you ….

6. You risk doing things like quoting, paraphrasing, summarizing a source ….

7. I better get busy check my essay for other places I need to … my sources with a citation.

Warm up

Work with your partner, consider the following academic situations and decide if they are plagiarism.

	Situation	Yes/No
	Copying a paragraph, but changing a few words and giving a citation.	Yes
	Cutting and pasting a short article from a website, with no citation.
	Taking two paragraphs from a classmate’s essay, without citation.
	Taking a graph from a textbook, giving the source.
	Taking a quotation from a source, giving a citation but not using quotation marks.
	Using something that you think of as general knowledge, e.g. large areas of rainforest have been cut down in recent years.
	Using a paragraph from an essay you wrote and had marked the previous semester, without citation.
	Using the results of your own research, e.g. from a survey, without citation.
	Discussing an essay topic with a group of classmates and using some of their ideas in your own work.
	Giving a citation for some information but mis-spelling the author’s name.

This exercise shows that plagiarism can be accidental. For example, situation (10) above, when the author’s name is m is-spelt, is technically plagiarism but really carelessness. In situation (9) your teacher may have encouraged you to discuss the topic in groups, and then write an essay on your own, in which case it would not be plagiarism. Self-plagiarism is also theoretically possible, as in situation (7). It can be difficult to decide what is general or common knowledge (situation 6), but you can always try asking colleagues.

However, it is not a good excuse to say that you didn’t know the rules of plagiarism, or that you didn’t have time to write in your own words. Nor is it adequate to say that rules are different in your own country. In general, anything that is not common knowledge or your own ideas and research (published or not) must be cited and referenced.

What is plagiarism?

Basically plagiarism means taking ideas or words from a source without giving credit (acknowledgement) to the author. It is seen as a kind of theft, and is considered to be an academic crime. In academic work, ideas and words are seen as private property belonging to the person who first thought or wrote them. Therefore, it is important for all students, including international ones, to understand the meaning of plagiarism and learn how to prevent it in their work.

The main difficulty that students face is that they are expected:

a) to show that they have read the principal experts on a subject – by giving citations

b) to explain these ideas in their own words and come to their own original conclusions

There are several reasons why students must avoid plagiarism:

Copying the work of others will not help you develop your own understanding

To show that you understand the rules of the academic community

Plagiarism is easily detected by teachers and computer software

It may lead to failing a course or even having to leave college

Acknowledging sources

If you borrow from or refer to the work of another person, you must show that you have done this by providing the correct acknowledgement. There are two ways to do this:

Summary and citation

Smith (2009) claims that the modern state wields power in new ways.

Quotation and citation

According to Smith: ‘ The point is not that the state is in retreat but that it is developing new forms of power…’(Smith, 2009:103)

These in-text citations are linked to a list of references at the end of the main text, which includes the following details:

 

Author	Date	Title	Place of publication	Publisher
Smith, M.	(2009)	Power and the State	Basingstoke	Palgrave Macmillan

 

The citation makes it clear to the reader that you have read Smith and borrowed this idea from him. This reference gives the reader the necessary information to find the source if the reader needs more detail.