Ideas for Structure and content of review

Introduction

Novel title:

Author:

Novel type: [Google the key words genre list to find out what kind of novel it is]

Narrator (full name):

Main characters: [Give their name and relationship to Christopher Boone]

Synopsis: [Say what story is about in 3-5 sentences]

Setting: [Where and when does the story take place?]

Main body

Main character descriptions: [Describe each of the main characters. Say generally what they do in the story and what they are like. Then give your opinion about them and say why you feel like that]

Story: [Say what you think of the story and why. For example, do you think it’s interesting?]

Style: [How is the story told? Here are some questions to help you: ·         Who tells the story? ·         Why did the author choose this person to tell the story? ·         How does this person tell the story? ·        What does this show us about the kind of person they are?]

Themes: [A theme is an idea running through a story, e.g. love or revenge. Identify two themes in this story and say why you think they are themes]

Conclusion

Your opinion: [Say what you thought about the novel. Think about: ·         Did you enjoy it? Why or why not? ·         Is it interesting? Why or why not? ·         How is it different from other novels you have read? ·        What did you learn from reading it?]

Recommendation: [Would you recommend the novel to friends? Say why or why not]

Film Review of Invansions (Alien film)

REVIEW

Invasions is about an alien who risks going to Earth.  He experiences a lot of human life, such as driving a plane, hitch hiking, he even goes down into a toilet.  There he finds secret control centre, where he controls plants.  He makes a crop circle to show his love to his girlfriend.

It is a romantic science fiction cartoon.  The director wants to explain crop circles. It is light and mysterious.

It was made in 2008/09.  It is set in present day America.  It is in the desert, but in the mountains.  Directed by Clement Morin.  There is one main character, the blue boy alien and his girlfriend who is pink.  It is for everybody from adults to children.

We liked the film because the film did not have dialogue and we could imagine the language, and what the main character is thinking. We specifically liked the part when he got into his control centre, but did not like when he went into the toilet.

The director did a good job because he shows us the true love between aliens.  We would have liked it if the film had some words.  But generally it was fun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4ExqQTNklk

Book Review

GROUP 1

What questions

What are you reviewing? What is it about? What's the plot?

What's the theme?

What is the author's/director's purpose?

What genre or classification does it fit?

What is the tone? What is the point of view? What's the mood?

GROUP 2

When and Where questions

When was this done? Or when does the action take place?

Where was this done? Or where does the action take place?

Who questions

Who wrote it, directed it, or acted in it? What else have they done?

Who are the main characters?

Who's the intended audience?

Who has said what about this? Why?

GROUP 3

How questions

How does it convey its main point, mood, or theme? How did the audience react to it?

How well does it fulfill its purpose?

Evaluation questions

Did I like this in general? Why?

Did I agree with the main theme/purpose? Why or why not?

What specifically did I like/dislike? Why?

Did the author/actors/director do a good job? Why or why not?

How could it be improved? Why would particular changes help?

After you have answered these questions, begin selecting and organizing the information that you'll include in your paper

Irregular part participle list

This can help with the present perfect.......

PAST AND NOW

http://www.myenglishteacher.net/irregular_verbs.html

Conditionals, hypothetical future

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSUsyzUFcKs

http://www.englishpage.com/modals/interactivemodal6.htm

Sustainable Conclusion

http://sustainableconstruction.co.uk/images/Sustainable%20Guide%20M12.pdf

Making Paragraphs

http://www.uefap.com/writing/exercise/parag/paragex1.htm

Is your writing PHAT or FAT?

■Trim long sentences: If any are longer than 25 words or so, consider turning them into two sentences or removing any unnecessary words.

Cut, don’t add: We are almost always too wordy. While you may need to add a word or two while editing, for the most part you should be removing words. Concise writing is more powerful and easier to read than lengthy prose.

■Slim down the words: Replace long words and phrases with short ones. In other words, why say “ascertain the location of” when you can just say “find”?

Justify yourself: Every point, statement, question, even every word should have a reason to be in your piece; if it doesn’t, strike it. Be harsh — if a word or phrase does not add value to your writing, get rid of it.

■Remember that black flatters figures, but white flatters writing: Nothing is more daunting to a reader than a dense block of text. Add some breathing room with white space between paragraphs, bold subheads and (where appropriate) bullet points.

Strong Thesis Statements

The thesis statement or main claim must be debatable

An argumentative or persuasive piece of writing must begin with a debatable thesis or claim. In other words, the thesis must be something that people could reasonably have differing opinions on. If your thesis is something that is generally agreed upon or accepted as fact then there is no reason to try to persuade people.

Example of a non-debatable thesis statement:

Pollution is bad for the environment.

This thesis statement is not debatable. First, the word pollution means that something is bad or negative in some way. Further, all studies agree that pollution is a problem, they simply disagree on the impact it will have or the scope of the problem. No one could reasonably argue that pollution is good.

Example of a debatable thesis statement:

At least twenty-five percent of the federal budget should be spent on limiting pollution.

This is an example of a debatable thesis because reasonable people could disagree with it. Some people might think that this is how we should spend the nation's money. Others might feel that we should be spending more money on education. Still others could argue that corporations, not the government, should be paying to limit pollution.

Another example of a debatable thesis statement:

America's anti-pollution efforts should focus on privately owned cars.

In this example there is also room for disagreement between rational individuals. Some citizens might think focusing on recycling programs rather than private automobiles is the most effective strategy.

The thesis needs to be narrow

Although the scope of your paper might seem overwhelming at the start, generally the narrower the thesis the more effective your argument will be. Your thesis or claim must be supported by evidence. The broader your claim is, the more evidence you will need to convince readers that your position is right.

Example of a thesis that is too broad:

Drug use is detrimental to society.

There are several reasons this statement is too broad to argue. First, what is included in the category "drugs"? Is the author talking about illegal drug use, recreational drug use (which might include alcohol and cigarettes), or all uses of medication in general? Second, in what ways are drugs detrimental? Is drug use causing deaths (and is the author equating deaths from overdoses and deaths from drug related violence)? Is drug use changing the moral climate or causing the economy to decline? Finally, what does the author mean by "society"? Is the author referring only to America or to the global population? Does the author make any distinction between the effects on children and adults? There are just too many questions that the claim leaves open. The author could not cover all of the topics listed above, yet the generality of the claim leaves all of these possibilities open to debate.

Example of a narrow or focused thesis:

Illegal drug use is detrimental because it encourages gang violence.

In this example the topic of drugs has been narrowed down to illegal drugs and the detriment has been narrowed down to gang violence. This is a much more manageable topic.

We could narrow each debatable thesis from the previous examples in the following way:

Narrowed debatable thesis 1:

At least twenty-five percent of the federal budget should be spent on helping upgrade business to clean technologies, researching renewable energy sources, and planting more trees in order to control or eliminate pollution.

This thesis narrows the scope of the argument by specifying not just the amount of money used but also how the money could actually help to control pollution.

Narrowed debatable thesis 2:

America's anti-pollution efforts should focus on privately owned cars because it would allow most citizens to contribute to national efforts and care about the outcome.

This thesis narrows the scope of the argument by specifying not just what the focus of a national anti-pollution campaign should be but also why this is the appropriate focus.

Qualifiers such as "typically," "generally," "usually," or "on average" also help to limit the scope of your claim by allowing for the almost inevitable exception to the rule.

Types of Claims

Claims typically fall into one of four categories. Thinking about how you want to approach your topic, in other words what type of claim you want to make, is one way to focus your thesis on one particular aspect of you broader topic.

Claims of fact or definition: These claims argue about what the definition of something is or whether something is a settled fact. Example:

What some people refer to as global warming is actually nothing more than normal, long-term cycles of climate change.

Claims of cause and effect: These claims argue that one person, thing, or event caused another thing or event to occur. Example:

The popularity of SUV's in America has caused pollution to increase.

Claims about value: These are claims made about what something is worth, whether we value it or not, how we would rate or categorize something. Example:

Global warming is the most pressing challenge facing the world today.

Claims about solutions or policies: These are claims that argue for or against a certain solution or policy approach to a problem. Example:

Instead of drilling for oil in Alaska we should be focusing on ways to reduce oil consumption, such as researching renewable energy sources.

Which type of claim is right for your argument? Which type of thesis or claim you use for your argument will depend on your position and knowledge on the topic, your audience, and the context of your paper. You might want to think about where you imagine your audience to be on this topic and pinpoint where you think the biggest difference in viewpoints might be. Even if you start with one type of claim you probably will be using several within the paper. Regardless of the type of claim you choose to utilize it is key to identify the controversy or debate you are addressing and to define your position early on in the paper!

Referencing and quotation activities

http://ist.glos.ac.uk/referencing/harvard/activity.html

http://latrobe.libguides.com/content.php?pid=145846&sid=1240036#3872630


referencing tool:

http://www.lib.latrobe.edu.au/help/style-guides.php

Lecture on Sustainability in Nicaragua

Is Nicaragua a sustainable dream?

Little Cob Matagalpa

Come and see for yourself

Cookworthy Building Lecture Room (4th Floor) 14.10-15.00

If you want to reference this lecture:

Searing, J. (2012) Is Nicaragua a sustainable dream? (Lecture on sustainability), University of Plymouth, 13th August 2012

For more information on Liitle Cob visit:

http://littlecob.wordpress.com/

For more information on SELVA visit:

http://selvanic.org/ParqEcoTe.html

Researching information for the extended essay

Researching information for the extended essay

Using Primo

Primo is the University’s library search engine which will search through the library’s book collection and electronic journals. To access Primo you should click on the drop-down menu ‘My Edesk’ and then click on ‘Library,  Media and IT (ILS)’. Scroll down and click on the Primo icon (shown below):

It is recommended that you always use the advanced search in Primo to select your sources more precisely.

Searching using a keyword or key expressions:

Search for all the articles with ‘sustainable development’ somewhere in the title.

1.       Set the first box displaying ‘Any’ to ‘in the Title’ using the drop-down arrow to the right;

2.       Type ‘sustainable development’ into the box to the right of ‘contains’;

3.       Click on the orange Search button below.

How many articles does it list?

To refine this search try:

·         Restricting the search to articles published in the ‘last 2 years’ by setting the Publication date;How many are listed now?

·         Now restrict the list to just books by setting the Material type;
How many are listed now?

How many of the books provide the full text online?

Viewing the text of electronic books

To look at the book by Peter Brandon, namely ‘Evaluating sustainable development in the built environment’:

1.       Click on the title in blue. This takes you to the Myilibrary page. Do not try to log in with your username and password – it will not work.

2.       Scroll down the page until you can see the text:

Athens
If you are an Athens user, please click here to access the Athens Authentication Point »

Click on the orange text.

(Athens is an identity management service and allows you access to the full text of a range of books and journals available only to subscribers, in this case it is the University of Plymouth. You must be logged on to the University of Plymouth website to be able to use Athens to access texts online)

3.       You should now be able to read the text of the book. If not, it means that only a limited number can view the full text at the same time.
On the left of the text is a panel which allows you to view the Table of Contents (TOC tab) of the book, or you can search for text using the Search tab.
Above these tabs are three green tabs. Click on the one labelled ‘Bibliographic details’ to open it up to show the reference information. If you click on the Citation link then a box will display the correct form for the reference section of you work (choose APA).

4.       When you have finished viewing the text, you should log out of  Myilibrary by clicking on Logout in the top right corner of the page.

Finding a book in the Library using Primo

One of the sources in the text book ‘Extended writing and research skills’ is taken from the book ‘An introduction to sustainable development’ by Jennifer Elliott. This is a useful text which gives a good description of three aspects of sustainable development. To find this book use the advanced search in Primo and:

1.       Search for ‘sustainable development’ in the Title and ‘Elliott’ as Author/creator and set Material Type  to ‘Books’, as shown below

2.       Click on the book icon for the book in the list of books returned to get more information.

3.        Using the tabs ‘Find it’ and ‘Details’, answer the questions below:

What is the maximum period that you can take this book out?
How many copies are available to borrow?
What is the subject code of the book which you need to find it?
On which floor will you find this book?

Floor	Book codes
2	001 - 499
1	500 - 639
0	640 - 999

 Task 1:

1.       You need to find a copy of an item whose title contains ‘blueprint for a green economy’ but you do not know the name of the author. Search for this item.
What kind of item is it (journal article, book etc)?
Where can you find it (online, on a shelf etc)?
How many are available?
How long can you book it out for?

2.       By clicking on the Details tab, you can:
Note the details of the item:
Click on the ‘Table of contents’ link in the Links box on the right to get a description of the book:

3.       Read the description of the book and consider whether you think that it would be useful.

4.       Using the details of the item, write out the correct form of these for adding to a reference section in an essay.

Task 2:

1.       Search for an item by author Zhu Yongguan and others which is about health effects of urbanization in China.

2.       What is the actual title of the item?

3.       What kind of item is it (book, journal article etc)?

4.       Write out the correct form for the reference for this item.

5.       View the full text of this item (you will need to click Go beside the section ‘Full text available via American Chemical Society Journals’ on the Metalib page, shown to the right)

6.       The text of this item contains an interesting section on ‘Features of Urbanization in China’ which has some useful comments. Fill in the blanks in the text below:

“The proportion of the urbanized population in China has increased from _____ in 1978 to_____ in 2009 (Figure 1). It is expected that some _____ million people will be added to the country’s urban population by 2025, and 1 billion people will live in Chinese cities by ______.(8, 9)”

7.       This item also has some useful diagrams which can even be downloaded. How many diagrams does it contain?

Task 3:

1.       Use Primo to search for an article in the journal Nature, published in 2010 by Jane Qiu with the title ‘Q&A: Peter Hessler on urbanization in China’

2.       Write down the full reference for this article that you would put in the reference section of an essay.

3.       View the full text of this article – you will need to find the link to ‘login via Athens’ to get the full text.

Using Google Scholar

URL: http://scholar.google.co.uk/schhp?hl=en

Google Scholar is an academic search engine that limits its searches to academic articles on the web.

1.       Search for an article by Hinrichsen and Robey on population and the environment
(Hinrichsen & Robey, 2000).

2.       Look at the full text and answer the following questions:

a.       What do we know about the authors?

b.      Is this an academic text?

c.       Does it have some helpful facts and statistics?

d.      Which sources have these authors used to get their information?

3.       What is your opinion of this article?