UNIT 3

Term Report Planning

&
Source Evaluation
Page
A. Academic Word List 5(A) 2
B. Reading Comprehension 4
C. Research Topic 7
D. Outline & Introduction 13
E. Source Evaluation 20
Source Evaluation 1 Sample 28
Searching the Internet for Sources 29

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A. Academic Word List 5(A)

In this section you will study half of the AWL 5 words. These words will help you understand the
reading passage in the next section.

AWL 5(A)
alter • energy • aware • licence • enforcement • draft • styles • medical • pursue •
symbolic • marginal • capacity • exposure • academic • external • objective • enable • contact •
network • amendment • rejected • target • sustainable • equivalent • substitution •
trend • evolution • consultation • mental • monitoring

Exercise 3.1
Match the words above with the meanings in the table below.
Meaning Word
1. able to continue over a period of time
2. the process of making people obey a law or rule
3. coming from the outside
4. to change slightly, usually to improve something
5. to cause the characteristics of something to change
6. the use of one person or thing instead of another
7. to watch and check a situation carefully for a period of time
8. to refuse to accept, use, or believe something or someone
9. very small in amount or effect
10. to make someone able to do something, or to make something possible

Exercise 3.2
Choose the correct word.

1. I wasn't even ___ that he was ill.

a. mental
b. network
c. aware

2. He wrote a ___ copy first.

a. styles
b. evolution
c. draft
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 3. She started a new ___. Everyone is copying her now.
a. trend
b. medical
c. symbolic

4. They are not going to ___ this investigation any further.

a. Capacity
b. pursue
c. equivalent

5. Too much ___ to the sun is not good for your skin.
a. exposure
b. objective
c. consultation

Exercise 3.3
Answer the questions.

1. Do you feel more energetic in the morning or evening?

2. Why is it good to have targets?

3. Who do you contact most when you need advice?

4. Do you have a driving licence?

5. What is the most famous academic institution in America?

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B. Reading Comprehension

Discussion Questions

1. Do you walk without thinking about it?

2. When does walking become difficult for you?
3. What happens to you when you don’t get enough sleep?

Dragging your feet? Lack of sleep affects your walk, new study finds

Jennifer Chu | MIT News Office October 26, 2021

A. Good sleep can be hard to come by and is often not sustainable. But a soon to be published medical
study finds that if you can make up for your lost sleep, even marginally, the extra zzz’s could boost your
energy levels and help reduce fatigue-induced clumsiness, at least in how you walk.

B. The act of walking was once seen as an entirely automatic process, involving very little conscious or
cognitive control. Experiments involving monitoring animals movements with a treadmill suggested that
walking appeared to be an automatic process, enabled mainly by reflexive and spinal activity, rather
than more cognitive processes. Several amendments have been made to this theory. Moreover,
academics have begun to reject older theories as recent studies have shown that the act of walking is
slightly more involved than once thought.

C. There’s plenty of objective evidence to show sleep, and how much we get of it, can affect our capacity
to do cognitive tasks well such as solving a math problem, holding a conversation, or even reading this
article. Less pursued is the question of whether sleep influences the way we walk or carry out other
activities that are assumed to be less mentally taxing.

D. A draft study, by a network of researchers mainly from MIT and the University of São Paulo in Brazil,
reports that walking — and specifically, how well we can control our stride, or gait — can indeed be
affected by lack of sleep. The study was conducted under the supervision of Hermano Krebs (principal
research scientist and consultant in MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering) who has over the last
decade extensively studied different walking styles, gait control and the mechanics of walking, in order
to develop targeted strategies and assistive robotics for patients who have suffered strokes and other
motion-limiting conditions.

E. The researchers contacted students who agreed to volunteer in a series of experiments. The team found
that overall, the less sleep students got, the less control they had when walking during a treadmill test.
Students who did not sleep at night found that their gait control plummeted even further. Pulling an all-
nighter - a symbolic act of university life – is a growing trend with students staying awake the night
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 before their exam, and some simply suffering from insomnia due to exposure to blue light from their
smart devices. Interestingly, for those who didn’t stay up all night before the test, but who generally had
less-than-ideal sleep during the week and slept in on weekends, performed better than those who
didn’t.

F. “Scientifically, we were not aware that almost automatic activities like walking would be influenced by
lack of sleep, though, now our knowledge of this is improving and evolving,” says Krebs. “We also find
that compensating, and not substituting, for sleep could be an important strategy. For instance, for
those who are chronically sleep-deprived, like shift workers, clinicians, and some military personnel, if
they alter their routine by building in regular sleep compensation, they might have better control over
their gait.” Of course, younger people may not understand and it’s difficult to enforce stricter bedtime
rules. Ideally, everyone should sleep eight hours a night. But if we can’t, due to external factors beyond
our control, then we should compensate as much and as regularly as possible to get the equivalent of it.

Additional Information
Original Source: https://news.mit.edu/2021/lack-sleep-walk-1026
Accessed: November 1, 2021
Publication
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private institution that was founded in 1861. It has a total
undergraduate enrollment of 4,361 (fall 2020), its setting is urban, and the campus size is 168 acres.
(MIT Website)
- Founded in 1861, MIT is ranked as one of the world's leading science universities and has won a number of
Nobel Prizes over the years for its research. (BBC News)
- The MIT News Office promotes MIT’s research, innovations, teaching and newsworthy events and people
to the campus community, the news media and the general public. (https://news.mit.edu/)

Author

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Exercise 3.4

Answer the following questions about the reading passage.

1. What is the main idea of the article?

2. Which paragraph mentions details about a well experienced researcher in the field of
walking?

3. Which paragraph suggests what could be done if someone doesn’t get enough sleep?

4. Why did scientists believe that walking is an automatic process?

5. Answer True, False or Not Given for the following statements:

a. ___ MIT is was established a few decades ago.

b. ___ At the time of writing the article above, the research was not published.

c. ___ The author of the article above has not written many articles.

6. Are the following statements a Fact (F), Opinion (O), or possibly Both (B)?

a. ___ Compensating, and not substituting, for sleep could be an important strategy.

b. ___ Good sleep can be hard to come by.

c. ___ Hermano Krebs is a principal research scientist in MIT.

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C. Research Topic

In this section you will narrow down and select a suitable topic to study for your term report. The
research topic that you choose for your 1000-1200 word report must come from one of the
following four themes:

• Education
• Health
• Technology
• Environment

Exercise 3.5

Go through the “Overview of Research Report” and “Thesis Statement” PowerPoint slides. Answer
the following questions.

1. Which of the four themes do the following topics belong to?

• Parkinson’s Disease Among Senior Citizens
• The Problem with Plastic Litter in Paris
• Teenager's Addiction to Social Media

2. Why is it not sensible to write a term report about the following topics?
• Health
• Requiring All New Buildings in Toledo Ohio to Use Green Roofs to Prevent Excess
Storm Sewer Runoff
• Technology and Health

3. Would you describe the following reader as a lay person, expert or an average reader?
• A child reading about specific computer components that require regular
maintenance.
• A medical doctor reading about the problem of plastic waste.
• A physicist reading about Newton's First Law.

4. How can you help a lay person understand your report?

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 5. Why do we need to include a thesis statement?

6. Read the following thesis statement and answer the questions.

The purpose of this report is to discuss how social media is making it easy for people to
blackmail others and what can be done about it.
a. Underline the part that refers to the solution.
b. This report does not focus on a problem. (True/False)
c. This report would probably contain sections about the popularity of social media.
(Agree/Disagree)

Exercise 3.6

Use the Model Report in Unit 1 to complete the table below.

Model Report

1. What is the theme of the report?

Education Health Technology Environment

2. What is the topic of the report?

3. Why would a student be interested in this topic?

4. Read the introduction. Why is this topic of great significance to most people?

5. Read the introduction. What are the research questions?

6. Read the introduction. What is the thesis statement?

7. How do the research questions relate to the thesis statement?

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Exercise 3.7

Use Google’s search engine to carry out a basic search of problematic areas within each of the
four themes and complete the table below. You can begin as shown in the image below (What are
the common problems in…(e.g. education)), but you must read from several websites to get a better
understanding of what problems could be studied under each theme.

Potential Research Topics

Theme Potential Area of Description of Problem Source (website)

Study

Education 1) Classroom size Teachers struggle to teach large https://www.publicschoolrevi

ew.com/blog/10-major-
class sizes and this has an impact
challenges-facing-public-
on students’ education.
schools

2)

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 3)

4)

5)

Health 1)

2)

3)

4)

5)

Technology 1)

2)

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 3)

4)

5)

Environment 1)

2)

3)

4)

5)

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Exercise 3.8

Choose one problem/topic to study from Exercise 3.7. Complete the table below.

Research Report Topic

1. What is the theme of your report?

2. What is the topic of the report? Describe your topic in 30 words.

3. Why are you as a student interested in this topic? Why didn’t you choose the other topics
from Exercise 3.3? (30 words)

4. Why is this topic of great significance to most people? (30 words)

5. What are your research questions? Use the Model Report as a guide (see Exercise 3.6).

6. Write a clear thesis statement for your topic. Use the Model Report and the “Thesis
Statement” PowerPoint slide as a guide. Your thesis statement should use “communicating”
verbs such as discuss, explain, describe, compare, evaluate, analyze and illustrate.

7. How do your research questions relate to your thesis statement?

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D. Outline & Introduction

As part of your first term report assignment, you will submit an outline and an introduction. Your
teacher will set a deadline for completing Exercise 3.12 (Outline) and Exercise 3.14 (Introduction).

Term Report Assignment 1 (Part 1): Outline

Now that you have chosen a topic to study and have some general knowledge about it, you should
be able to make an outline. An outline can save you a lot of time and effort. This will help you begin
your research. This outline may even change slightly during your research process. The general
outline of the term report will contain six main sections. Your teacher may suggest an alternative
outline to follow.

I. INTRODUCTION
II. CAUSES
III. EFFECTS
IV. SOLUTIONS
V. CONCLUSION
VI. RECOMMENDATIONS & IMPLEMENTATION

Informal or formal outlines

Outlines can be informal or formal. Those written for the writer alone can be quite informal, with
little attention paid to the various outlining conventions. Informal outlines—also referred to as
rough or scratch outlines—are typically the starting-point of a piece of writing. However, outlines
that are also written for other readers, like those you write for your English teacher, or those which
are intended to form the plan for longer pieces of writing such as reports, should follow certain
accepted standards of formatting. These are formal outlines.

Topic or sentence outlines

Formal outlines can be topic outlines or sentence outlines. As the names suggest, topic outlines
consist of “topics,” usually consisting of just a few words, while sentence outlines convey the ideas
in full sentences. In this English 102 course, you will use only topic outlines. In a formal topic
outline, headings consist of single words, phrases or clauses, and they should begin with a capital
letter. Full sentences should not be included, except for the initial thesis statement that precedes
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the outline. All headings on the same level should be grammatically parallel with one another, that
is, they should all be nouns or noun phrases, all verbs or verb phrases, or all clauses.

Traditional or numerical outlines

Formal topic outlines require a consistent system of outline notation. Your teacher may ask you to
use either the traditional (“alphanumeric”) method or the numerical (“decimal”) method. Formal
outline notation, together with consistent indentation, explicitly shows the relationships between
the ideas in your outline. Ideas are organized by levels. With the traditional outline method, main
(first-level) headings are indicated by Roman numerals (I, II, III, etc.), second-level headings are
indented and indicated by capital letters (A, B, C, etc.), and third-level headings are indented still
further and are indicated by numbers (1, 2, 3, etc.). Logically, every subdivided topic must have at
least two headings: if there is I, there must be II; if there is A, there must be B, and so on.

With the numerical method of notation, main (first-level) headings are shown by numbers (1, 2, 3,
etc.), second-level headings add a further number after a decimal point (1.1, 1.2, 1.3, etc.), and
third-level headings have a third number after a second period (1.1.1, 1.1.2, 1.1.3, etc.). As with the
traditional method, indentations help clarify the relationships between ideas. In this English 102
course, you may use either system of outline notation though we recommend the traditional
method.

Exercise 3.9

Go through the “Outlining” PowerPoint slide and the notes above. Answer the following questions.

1. Arabic numerals (0, 1, 2 …) are used to indicate:

a. main headings.
b. subtopics.
c. sub-subtopics.

2. Roman numerals (I, II, III …) are used to indicate:

a. main headings.
b. subtopics.
c. sub-subtopics.

3. Capital Roman letters (A, B, C …) are used to indicate:

a. main headings.
b. subtopics.
c. sub-subtopics.

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 4. Identify the error in the following extract of an outline:
A. The number of pollutants in the environment.
B. Change of the world’s climate
C. Ignorance of scientific facts

5. Identify the error in the following extract of an outline:

I Visit and evaluate college campuses
A Note the different classroom locations
B Classes located near carparks

6. Identify the error in the following extract of an outline:

I Visit and evaluate college campuses
A Note the location of classes
B Visit and evaluate college websites

7. Identify the error in the following extract of an outline:

I Technology in the classroom
A Advantages

Exercise 3.10

Complete the outline for the Model Report in Unit 1. Follow all the standard conventions for a
traditional outline.

Thesis:

I. Introduction
II. Causes of the depletion of natural resources

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Exercise 3.11

Spend some time brainstorming your topic to see what you already know and what connections
you can make. Having already spent time researching the general topic area, you should now be
able to come up with some useful ideas for the development of your report. Even if you know little
about the specific topic, brainstorming will at least indicate areas requiring further research.

Focus specifically on your research questions to get the information you need for your outline.
Identify the following for your research topic:

• Two main causes of the problem

• Two main effects/consequences of the problem

• Two possible solutions to the problem

Important Notes:

Before making your outline, you need to carry out a basic search to have a rough idea about what
to include in your report. Basically, there are two ways to find your sources: through the Internet
by entering specific search terms into a search engine Google and through the library, where both
print and non-print sources can be accessed through the Library’s Summon search engine. Using the
Library will generally produce more reliable sources than using the Internet though the level of
language may be correspondingly higher. Your teacher will give you some basic classroom
instruction in research methodology, particularly in the choice of effective search terms. Also, your
teacher will arrange a special library and internet research session with the university library in the
coming weeks. Until then, you can follow the basic steps below or read pages 29-31.

• Use a basic search engine such as Google.

• Visit specific websites directly such as those of reputable websites (e.g. BBC), magazines and
newspapers.

• Use key search terms. The narrower you make the search, the more relevant the results will
be. Refer to your thesis statement to develop well focused key words.

• Use Boolean operators to refine your search terms (e.g. AND, NOT, OR, “…”).

• Keep a record of all your searches and details of important articles.

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Exercise 3.12 (Assessed Assignment: Outline)

Write a formal traditional outline for your term report. You may use the Model Report (see
Exercise 3.6) as a guide.

Important Notes:

• The headings for the Introduction, Conclusion and Recommendations & Implementation
should remain the same. All other sections must have suitable headings.
• Follow guidelines related to parallelism, coordination, subordination and division.
• In a formal topic outline, headings consist of single words, phrases or clauses, and they
should begin with a capital letter. Full sentences should not be included, except for the
initial thesis statement that precedes the outline.
• Include 5-8 key search terms.

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Term Report Assignment 1 (Part 2): Introduction

A good introduction will inform the reader about the purpose and scope of the paper. There is no
particular structure for writing introductions but it should as a minimum include relevant
background information, definitions of any unfamiliar key terms, state the importance of the topic
and most importantly state the purpose or aim of the paper. Introductions are normally 10% of the
total length of the paper.

Model Report – Introduction

Natural resources are a fundamental part of the planet Earth's environment. These natural

resources such as water, soil, wood, and minerals are essential resources for many organisms to

live a healthy life. Furthermore, many industries rely on these resources to manufacture quality

products such as computers, mobile phones, and cars. However, the consumption of such

resources is raising concerns about shortages in the future. Therefore, the objective of this term

report is to investigate the problem of the depletion of natural resources and to provide some

possible solutions to overcome this concern. This report specifically addresses the following

research questions: what are the main causes and effects of the depletion of natural resources; and

what are the potential solutions to this problem? Following this introduction, this report contains a

further five sections. The next two sections identify the main causes and effects of the depletion of

natural resources. Then, two solutions are proposed. Finally, conclusions are drawn, and

recommendations are provided with suggestions for their implementation.

Exercise 3.13

Look at the introduction from the Model Report above.

1. What is the purpose of the purple part (Natural resources…and cars)?

2. What other information could replace the purple part (Natural resources…and cars)?
3. What is the difference between the purple part (Natural resources…and cars) and the blue
part (However…future)?
4. Why is the red part (Therefore…concern) important?

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 5. What is the difference between the red part (Therefore…concern) and the green part (This
report…problem)?
6. How would the last part (Following…implementation) help the reader?
7. Can you identify the various cohesive devices used in the introduction? Why do we need
them?

Exercise 3.14 (Assessed Assignment: Introduction)

The introduction above has 5 main parts. Follow the example and write a similar introduction for
your term report that includes all 5 parts. You have already written about some of these parts in
Exercise 3.8.

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E. Source Evaluation

As part of your term report mark, you will submit two source evaluations. Your teacher will set a
deadline for completing Exercise 3.17 (Source Evaluation 1).

You must use four sources to write your term report. Whenever you find a potential source, you must first

evaluate it before you can start using it to write your report. Using effective search terms will increase your

chances of finding relevant sources but many of the sources you find which look useful at first glance may

turn out to be irrelevant after you have read them critically. There is no point in using a source if it does not

meet the requirements laid down by your teacher regarding length, newness, bibliographical completeness,

and so on. So always check this first. The following points set out the criteria that will help you evaluate your

sources.

Source Evaluation Criteria

1. Is the source relevant?

In order to write your source evaluation later, you will need to be able to connect specific information in the

source with the corresponding topics in your evolving plan. If you can’t, your source will not be relevant.

How useful is the information in the source for your topic? You cannot judge a source simply by its title; you

have to read it first.

2. Is the publication reliable?

Is the publication itself well-known (e.g. BBC), or is it from a recognized database (e.g. EBSCO)? If it is a

website, is it from a well-known organization (e.g. Aramco), or university (e.g. Harvard)?

3. Is the author competent?

An author could be one or more individuals, a government department, an organization, an online action

group, and so on. Often, online sources and even certain reputable magazines like The Economist publish

anonymous articles. Authors can sometimes be biased (see below); they can also be incompetent,

disorganized and unintentionally misleading. As a general rule, it is always better to use reputable sources

with named authors. Sometimes, the source will include a short biography of the author which will indicate

his expertise and reliability; if it doesn’t, you may be able to google the author yourself and uncover his
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background. Is he an expert in the field or simply someone with an interest in it? Has he published before in

this field? How long has he worked in this field? Is he well known? These are some of the questions that will

help you determine if the author is competent. If he is, the article is more likely to be credible and reliable.

4. Is the article biased?

A biased article is written from one particular point of view and so does not give a balanced or objective

account of an issue. Often the bias is subtle and hard to detect; at other times, it is explicit and unmissable.

Apart from the actual content itself, the writer of an article is often an important clue to bias. If you detect

bias in an article, you may still be able to use the information in your report but introduce such ideas as

opinion rather than fact: for example, “the environmental group claims that ... .”

Also, consider if the article contains mainly facts or opinions. Facts are pieces of information that can be

proved to be true, such as “speeding is dangerous.” Thousands of government statistics and academic

research on the causes of accidents prove that this statement is true. On the other hand, opinions are ideas

or beliefs about a particular subject, such as “speeding is fun.” Opinions differ from one person or group to

another. They cannot be proven as facts but they can be strengthened by evidence that is provided by, for

example, experts, academic research and personal experience. Read your sources critically to see if the

author is providing facts or opinions. If it’s the latter, then he must also provide sufficient evidence to

support his opinions and make them credible.

5. What is the level of the article?

Your search may turn up some sources that are too difficult to understand and others that are too simple.

Journals often fall into the former category and online high-school-level articles fall into the latter. Choose

your sources carefully: if you cannot understand them, you cannot use them.

6. Currency

“Currency” refers to the relevance of information based on its date of publication. Students sometimes find

sources which contain apparently useful information but which is already out of date. Take care, with older

sources—always try to be current with your information.

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7. Teacher's requirements including length

For example, your teacher may: expect sources to be fairly new (published within, say, the last one or two

years); expect sources to adhere to a minimum and maximum length (e.g. between one and five pages long);

require every source to have full bibliographical information such as an author, a title and a date of

publication; expect you to use reputable websites and read online sources whose authors have a relevant

background; expect you to use a variety of source types—both print and non-print—such as an encyclopedia

article, a book chapter, a magazine article found through the Library databases, and an article found on the

Internet; forbid certain websites, such as Wikipedia. Following your teacher’s guidelines will affect your

report grade so be sure you fully understand them before you begin your research.

Exercise 3.15

Go through the “Source Evaluation” and “Finding Sources” PowerPoint slides, and the information
above. Answer the following questions.

1. Match the source evaluation criteria with its description.

Description Source Criteria

the number of pages the source is A. Relevance
how up-to-date the information is B. Publication
how well the source deals with your term report topic C. Level
knowing what organization wrote the source D. Author
checking if the source is for or against a particular view E. Bias
finding out background information about the person who wrote the source F. Currency
how well you understand the source G. Length

2. Answer the following questions with Yes or No.

Question Yes/No
Can a student use a source that he is interested in, but does not relate to his topic?
Is Wikipedia a good publication for a source?
An author who is an expert in software engineering writes about technical information on
architecture. Is he competent enough to write such an article?

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An author who is an expert in software engineering writes about basic information on artificial
intelligence. Is he competent enough to write such an article?
An article only writes about the pros of exercising in the morning. Is it bias?
An article in 2018 describes a new program that will be released in 2019. Is it up to date?
You found an article that relates to your topic and it is one paragraph long. Can you use it?

3. Which type of source is good because it reports on topics in an easy and general way?
a. Periodicals
b. Books
c. Journals
d. Websites
4. Which type of source provides useful information but is likely to be outdated?
a. Periodicals
b. Books
c. Journals
d. Websites
5. Which type of source provides very useful and specific information but is written for experts in the
field?
a. Periodicals
b. Books
c. Journals
d. Websites
6. Which websites are normally good sources?
a. .org
b. .edu
c. .gov.
d. all of the above
7. The use of .com websites is permissible as long as:
a. it is longer than one page.
b. it satisfies the evaluation criteria.
c. it is a new article.
d. all of the above

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 8. A student is writing about the disadvantages of online learning. Which source will support his
report?
a. A source that provides information about the stress that online students face.
b. A source that provides information on the number of students who use the internet.
c. None of the above
9. What is the main difference between primary and secondary research? Provide two examples of
each.

Exercise 3.16

Read the source and accompanied background information in Section B above titled “Dragging your feet?

Lack of sleep affects your walk, new study finds” and answer the questions.

1. This article is relevant for a student whose term report topic is about:

a. causes of exam stress

b. how to sleep well
c. the effects of lack of sleep

2. Is the article relevant for a student who would like to support his/her ideas in the term report to show
how people used to perceive sleeping? Which sentence can support this idea?

________________________________________________________________________________________
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________________________________________________________________________________________

3. Is the article relevant for a student who would like to support his/her ideas in the term report to show one
possible cause of not walking properly? Which sentence can support this idea?

________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________

4. Is the publication reliable? Why/Why not?

________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________

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5. Is the author competent? Why/Why not?

________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________

6. Does the following extract show that the article is biased in any way by encouraging people to sleep well?

For students who pulled an all-nighter before the test, this gait control plummeted even further. Interestingly,
for those who didn’t stay up all night before the test, but who generally had less-than-ideal sleep during the
week and slept in on weekends, performed better than those who didn’t.

________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________

7. Does the author express any of her own opinions? Are the opinions backed-up by other sources? Are
there any facts in the article?

________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________

8. Which statement(s) is/are a fair judgment about the level of the article?

a. This article is written for school children because of some informal words such as "zzz's" in the first
paragraph.
b. An expert on sleep deprivation should refer to the original study as this level is not appropriate.
c. This article is appropriate for someone with basic knowledge about the subject.

9. Which statement is a fair judgment about the currency of the article?

a. The article is outdated.

b. The article is new, and it refers to a recent study.
c. The article is new, but it refers to an old study.

10. The length of this article is ___ for a term report.

a. not appropriate
b. appropriate

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11. Write a 50-100 word summary paraphrase of the article (see Unit 2 for notes on summary paraphrase).

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Exercise 3.17 (Assessed Assignment: Source Evaluation 1)

TASK: Find an appropriate source that supports one of your causes or

effects.
You must use four sources to write your term report, though, you will only submit two source evaluations.
Your teacher will set you a deadline for submitting Source Evaluation 1 (SE1). Find an appropriate
source that supports one of your causes or effects. An example of a typical source evaluation is given
on the next page (page 28). It contains three parts:

1. Source details: Firstly, briefly explain how you found the source, including any search terms, databases or
search engines you used. Secondly, provide enough details so that your teacher can locate the source such
as the website address, author etc.

2. Source summary: Read the whole article and then write a summary of between 50 and 100 words. This is
a summary paraphrase so you must use your own words. Begin with the overall idea of the source, followed
by its main points. (see Unit 2 for details about writing a summary paraphrase).

3. Source evaluation: This is the most important section. Explain in about 100 words why you chose the
article. You must address the source evaluation criteria: relevance, publication, author, bias, level, currency,
and teachers’ requirements (e.g. length).

For further details about using the internet for searching sources refer to the notes on pages 29-31.

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Where did you find the source? Provide details (e.g. URL http:….)

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Notes: Searching the Internet for Sources
You must use four sources to write your term report. If one of your sources is especially short—for
example, less than a page in length—your teacher may allow you to use a fifth source. Your choice
of sources is critical. Some sources are likely to be unsuitable. Journal articles, for example, tend to
be written on a very narrow subject using highly technical language and concepts that are aimed at
an expert audience. At the other end of the spectrum, much Internet writing, such as blogs, is done
by non-professionals and sometimes consists of badly written, unsupported and biased opinions.
Good sources are encyclopedias for basic background information, specialist websites, special-
interest magazines like Popular Science and The Economist and general-interest magazines such as
Time and Newsweek. Many of these sources are available in both print and non-print form in the
library.

Your teacher may set particular guidelines for the sources you find. Your teacher will:

• expect sources to be fairly new (published within, say, the last one or two years);
• expect sources to adhere to a minimum and maximum length (e.g., between one and five
pages long);
• require every source to have full bibliographical information such as an author, a title and a
date of publication;
• expect you to use reputable websites and read online sources whose authors have a
relevant background;
• expect you to use a variety of source types—both print and non-print—such as an
encyclopedia article, a book chapter, a magazine article found through the library
databases, and an article found on the Internet;
• not expect you to use certain websites, such as Wikipedia.
Following your teacher’s guidelines will affect your report grade so be sure you fully understand
them before you begin your research.

Basically, there are two ways to find your sources: (1) through the Internet by entering specific
search terms into a search engine such as Google and (2) through the Library, where both print and
non-print sources can be accessed through the Library’s Summon search engine. Using the Library
will generally produce more reliable sources than using the Internet though the level of language
may be correspondingly higher. Your teacher will give you some basic classroom instruction in
research methodology, particularly in the choice of effective search terms, and may arrange a
session with the university’s library administrator.

1. The Library Your teacher will arrange a session with the library.
2. The Internet
The Internet is a vast collection of resources offering access to millions of websites. However, it also
requires a very careful approach since anybody can post anything on the Internet and few websites
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can guarantee the accuracy and objectivity of their content. While it is perfectly possible to confine
your research to the library’s print and electronic resources, it is also advisable to devote some
research time to discovering what the Internet has to offer. As the Internet is constantly changing
and expanding, the following description offers only a snapshot of what is currently available to the
researcher.
Search engines
The first place to start is with a search engine. The most popular one, with over 80% of all web
searches, is Google. Other well-known search engines are Bing, Yahoo!, DuckDuckGo, and Ask.
Some search engines—referred to as metasearch engines—send search requests to multiple search
engines to locate information. Examples include Search.com, SurfWax, Dogpile, and WebCrawler.
Some search engines of particular interest to you specialize in academic searching; these include
Magportal, Scirus, and Google Scholar.

Online publications and websites

If you already know of specific websites, you can visit them directly and use the home page’s search
box to type in your key terms. Useful websites to visit include those of magazines and newspapers,
both general-interest and special-interest. (If you don’t know the full web address of a magazine or
newspaper, google it.)
You may find that some publications are behind a paywall ($), meaning that they are accessible only
through subscription. An example is The Times newspaper of London. The New York Times has a
more flexible paywall in place: visitors are allowed to read ten free articles per month, after which a
fee must be paid. It should also be remembered that, if you find that a particular publication is
behind a paywall, it is possible that the University subscribes to it so the magazine in question may
still be accessible. Most websites, however, offer free access to all current articles and archives (i.e.,
copies of past articles). Visit the web site of a specific magazine, e.g. the Air & Space magazine
(www.airspacemag.com) and type your search terms into the search box on the magazine’s home
page.
Click on an article to read it. If you think the article will be useful for your term report, print it out
directly from the Internet rather than copying & pasting it into a Word document. This will give you
the full bibliographic details, including the website and date of access, which you will need to write
the MLA Works Cited reference. If you copy & paste, you may lose some important bibliographic
information that your teacher will want to see. However, when printing out, try to avoid copying
pages of irrelevant information such as blog comments and advertisements.

Using key search terms

The key to effective searching—whether through the library’s portal or through the internet—is to
use good search terms. In general, the narrower you make your search, the fewer, and the more
relevant, the results will be. For example, supposing your term report task was to evaluate the
discoveries of the Hubble Space Telescope, you could start your Internet search with Google:

• Entering “telescope” will bring you over 57 million hits.

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 • Entering “hubble space telescope” will produce 16 million.
• Entering “hubble space telescope discoveries” will produce just over 500 thousand.
• Entering “hubble space telescope discoveries advantages and disadvantages” will bring 120
thousand hits.
•
Boolean operators
Finally, you can refine your search terms still further by using Boolean operators, such as AND, NOT
and OR.
The use of AND will narrow your search and make the results more relevant. (Note, however, that
in most search engines, including Google and Summon, the AND operator is the default and so it
can be omitted: hubble telescope problems is the same as hubble AND telescope AND problems.
The search engine will look for these key words in all the documents it searches and will deliver
only those documents that contain all of the search terms.
The use of the OR connector will widen your search. For example, entering hubble OR telescope will
produce documents which contain the word hubble or the word telescope or which contain both
hubble and telescope. It will produce far more documents than simply entering hubble telescope. If
you are interested in other types of telescopes besides the Hubble Telescope, this could be useful.
If you are only interested in the Hubble Telescope, it isn’t.
The use of the NOT operator will narrow your search by excluding certain words from the results.
For example, if you enter the key search term hubble NOT telescope, you will receive documents
that contain the word hubble but which do not contain the word telescope.
One final refinement is to put quotation marks (“...”) around your search term. Like the AND and
NOT operators, this will narrow your search. The quotation marks tell the search engine to search
the term as a complete phrase and not as separate words. For example, by entering “hubble space
telescope,” you will receive only documents that contain those three consecutive words. Compare
this with entering hubble space telescope or hubble AND space AND telescope which will produce
many thousands more documents all of which contain those three words either together or
separately.

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