Assignment Code: BEGG-173 / TMA /2021 -22

Course Code: BEGG-173

Assignment Name: Academic Writing and Composition

Year: 2021 -2022

Verification Status: Verified by Professor

Answer all questions in this assignment.

SECTION A

I. Write short notes of about 100 words each on the following: 5x5=25

Q1. What is the function of a ‘body paragraph’ in an academic essay? Explain with examples.

Ans) A body paragraph in an essay is a paragraph that comes between the introduction and the conclusion. In a five-paragraph essay, there are three body paragraphs, while in longer essays there could be five or even ten.

Each body paragraph will have a topic sentence, which tells readers what your paragraph is going to be about and what you want to say about your topic. For example: One of the challenges that is unique to space is the fact that space is a vacuum, which is a risk for various reasons. This topic sentence tells readers that the paragraph that follows it will be about one of the challenges that is unique to space: the fact that it is a vacuum and the reasons why that vacuum is a risk factor.

Q2. What aspects should be considered while writing the review of a book?

Ans) A book review is typically a college assignment and is an evaluation of a book, often a recently published one, written as a service to other readers. A book review provides three main things: description, analysis, and expression of reviewers' reactions to the book. If you are assessing a review of a book, you will also need to think about the quality of argumentation and the range of themes that have been mentioned. In other words, based on the type or genre of writing, you think of particular parameters through which the writing can be assessed. All book reviews should contain some key information for the audience. This includes the title, author, genre, plot outline, and publisher. It might also include the number of pages, list price, ISBN number, and other such minutiae.

Q3. Write a short note on the structure of a business proposal.

Ans) A proposal indicates the direction of a future action. Any action begins with an idea. The idea

develops into a plan of action. The plan needs to be elaborated upon. The prospects and

consequences of the plan need to be visualized. If the plan shows promise of being executed,

then it needs to be written down with the costs worked out. This document is called a proposal.

A long business proposal contains these elements:

1. cover letter

2. title page (title, name of representative & designation with a signature, and date)

3. executive summary

4. Table of contents & list of figures

5. Introduction

6. background

7. procedures

8. equipment and facilities

9. management plan

10. appendices

Q4. What is meant by ‘persuasive writing’? Give any two examples.

Ans) Persuasive writing intends to convince readers to believe in an idea or opinion and to do an action. Many writings such as criticisms, reviews, reaction papers, editorials, proposals, advertisements, and brochures use different ways of persuasion to influence readers.

Examples.

1. A Lexi Mattress is the most comfortable bed you’ll ever sleep on. Take a 30-day trial and see for yourself. If you’re not satisfied, we’ll come to your home, remove the mattress, and refund you in full. You’ve got nothing to lose. Give it a try today.

2. Pedigree Dog Food is sure to make your dog's tail wag. If you truly love your pup, you'll try one of our all-natural selections today.

Q5. Is ‘editing’ the same as ‘revising’? Why is it important to edit our writing?

Ans) The difference between “revising” and “editing” is that the former is done by the author; the latter is done by the editor. Editing is on a sentence level, addressing problems with spelling, grammar, punctuation, or word choice.

Revising deals with the paper as a whole, considering strengths and weaknesses, arguments, focus and organization, support, and voice, as well as mechanical issues. During revising, you add, cut, move, or change information in order to improve content.

Importance of Editing

A simple definition of editing is improving text of some kind, whether it's going to be published for millions or for a class of college students. Editing services aim for copy to be well-written, high-quality, and error-free.

Section B

II. Write short essays of about 200 words each on the following 2x10=20

Q1. Explain with examples, how academic writing is different from non-academic writing? What are the functions of academic writing?

Ans) Academic writing is a formal and impersonal style of writing that is intended for a scholarly or academic audience while non academic writing is an informal and often subjective style of writing that aims the mass public. The difference between academic writing and non academic writing stems from various factors such as their audience, purpose, language, format, and tone. Academic writing aims academia while non academic writing aims the mass public.

Another difference between academic writing and non academic writing is their style. Academic writing is formal and impersonal while non academic writing is personal, impressionistic, emotional, or subjective in nature. We can consider this as the key difference between academic writing and non academic writing. Moreover, the former uses formal language while avoiding colloquialism and slang whereas the latter uses informal and casual language. Citations and sources is also a major difference between academic writing and non academic writing. Academic writing contains citations and references while non academic writing does not usually contain citations and references.

The main purpose of academic writing is to inform the readers, with non-biased facts and solid evidence. By doing academic writing, you develop the ability to think critically and communicate effectively, both of which are essential skills for the modern world, no matter what you do in life.

Some examples of academic writing include research papers, dissertations, scholarly articles while newspaper and magazine articles, memoirs, letters, digital media, etc. are examples of non academic writing.

Q2. What is ‘copyright law’? Why is it important to avoid plagiarism in academic writing?

Ans) The Copyright Act 1957 (as amended by the Copyright Amendment Act 2012) governs the subject of copyright law in India. Copyright is a legal right, giving the owner control over their work and how it is used. It gives creators protection against use of their work without permission. Owners of copyright can use, sell or licence a work to a third party. Copyright normally protects the work created by, or 'originated' with, the author.

Important to Avoid Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the uncredited use of somebody else’s words or ideas and is one of the most serious offenses any student can commit, even if the act is unintentional. Plagiarism can have severe consequences such as failing classes or even expulsion. To avoid plagiarism, students must follow certain rules in regard to proper citations. This handout provides a few basic rules for avoiding plagiarism by determining what needs to be cited and how to cite that information correctly.

The best way to avoid plagiarism in your writing is to be mindful about your sources during the research and writing process:

1. Carefully keep track of your research before you write. 

2. A research journal and citation management tool can be a big help.

3. Make sure you paraphrase or quote your sources correctly as you write.

4. Double-check that you've correctly cited all of your sources after you write. 

II. Answer the following in about 250 words. 15

Q1. Its Stealing from Another

“It is unethical to plagiarize because someone else has worked hard and should receive credit.” How can they be applied to develop good writing skills? Illustrate your answer with suitable examples.

Ans) Some reasons as to why plagiarism is unethical:

1. Its Stealing from Another

2. “It is unethical to plagiarize because someone else has worked hard and should receive credit.”

3. “You wouldn’t want someone else to steal your work!”

4. Plagiarism is “taking property owned by someone else and by not citing the source, the person is stealing, and everyone understands what it means to steal.”

5. “You are cheating yourself.”

6. “You don’t learn anything when you plagiarize.”

7. “It is unethical to steal the work of others.  We all know the difference between right and wrong.”

8. “Plagiarism prevents you from establishing your own ideas and opinions on a topic.”

In conclusion, these seem to be good, practical reasons why no one should plagiarize.

Develop Good Writing Skills

Avoiding plagiarism requires good writing skills. Some vital suggestions are:

1. Learn the principles of good writing so you have the necessary skills to express your ideas with your own words.

2. Learn how to paraphrase a source with your own words.

3. Learn how to cite sources properly.

4. Learn what plagiarism is and what it is not.

5. Don't assume what you know is "common knowledge" for everyone—it may not be.

6. Don't misinterpret or manipulate what was intended in a source to suit your needs.

7. When using citations gleaned from secondary sources, make sure those citations actually exist and find out what was really conveyed in those cited sources so that you are not reproducing someone else's misinterpretation.

8. Obtain permission from authors when using large portions of their text and give them due credit in your writing.

9. Make use of the help available from the Writing Center at the university, online resources, and, of course, your course instructor.

10. When in doubt, put the text within quotes and include citations.

To further develop your academic writing skills here are some great sources that you are

recommended to try browse through:

1. Graff, G., & Birkenstein, C. (2016). They Say/I Say: Moves that Matter in Academic Writing (3rd ed.). W.W. Norton and Company.

2. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/academic_writing/index.html

3. http://writingspaces.org/node/1706

Section C

QIII. The head of your institution has conducted a meeting to discuss the training needs of various groups of employees. Write a brief report of the meeting. 10

Ans)                                           

ABC Organization, Pvt Ltd

Conference Hall, 11 AM

Agenda: Training Needs Analysis of employees

Many companies balk at conducting an analysis because it seems overwhelming to figure out where to start. Eight concrete steps on how to identify the training needs of employees were discussed in the meeting.

1. Decide What You Are Trying To Achieve

Some folks place evaluating employees’ baseline knowledge before goal-setting, but your data will be much richer if it has context. Decide on organizational goals and objectives for your company before gathering employee data to decide where to spend your valuable training time.

Your goals might be very concrete (e.g., migrate the entire office to new software) or somewhat intangible (e.g., improve customer service), but if you can think of it and set it as a goal, you can train it and measure your progress. Whatever your goals, make sure the entire C-suite is onboard and ready to focus on moving towards them.

2. Identify The Knowledge, Skills, And Abilities Needed To Meet Your Objectives

As your company grows and changes (and the world right along with it), your employees may have gaps in their knowledge, skills, and abilities.

This step carefully breaks down and articulates what employees need to know, understand, and are able to do at the end of training to meet your stated goals. These learning objectives for individuals help further guide and focus your training.

3. Figure Out What Employees Know

Piggybacking on step two, take your list of knowledge, skills, and abilities, and determine where on the spectrum your employees fall. Give employees a chance to show what they know (and identify any gaps) before you start designing your learning programs. There is a variety of ways this information can be collected, including:

1. Using questionnaires or surveys

2. Observing employees and examining their work

3. Conducting formal assessments

4. Talk To Employees

Take the time to ask employees what they need to do their jobs better. Are they happy in their work, and, if not, what might make them happier?

Encourage open feedback by separating these conversations from any type of HR setting. Make it clear that you are really interested in setting goals and objectives for training that match employee needs, not deciding who gets the next pay cut. This can help you find deficiencies you would have never thought to check.

5. Talk To Managers

Managers are the bridge between executives and workers. As such, they have a unique perspective on how things are going in the boardroom and on the street. Talk to your managers to see what they feel it can be improved on and what can be put on the back burner.

6. Decide On The Data Points That Are Valuable To Your Team

In the collected data, what do you want to focus on? If employees across the board think that lunch is too short, but that doesn’t meet your goal of implementing more efficient bidding or invoicing process, don’t focus on lunch for now. Match the feedback you get to the goals you set at the beginning of the process.

7. Evaluate Your Current Training Resources

Once you figure out what employees know and have taken the temperature of your managers, it’s time for you to figure out what training resources are already in place to support progress towards your objectives, and what needs fine-tuning (or scrapping altogether).

If you have only ever conducted employee training in a few marathon sessions in a stuffy conference room, you may not want to use any of your old tools. These days, Just-In-Time employee training meets employees exactly where they are with technology that makes training efficient and effective. Training Needs Analysis might also uncover how employees prefer to learn, which can reduce training friction once you do roll the training out.

8. Match Your Training To Your Needs

Matching your training to your needs means making sure you have the right amount of training, focused on exactly what employees need in order to meet your organizational goals from step one. Because employees have so little time for training as it is, you want to make sure they are getting what they need, when they need it.

QIV. Write a well structured composition on the topic “Conserving India’s Forests: Problems and Challenges”.

(Your essay should have a clear introductory paragraph, body paragraph and concluding paragraph. You can take hints from Unit 7 to write this answer) 15

Ans) Conserving India’s Forests is very vital particularly when we see the rising problems and challenges. Forests provide a diversity of ecosystem services including recycling carbon dioxide into oxygen, acting as a carbon sink, aiding in regulating climate, purify water, mitigating natural hazards such as floods, and serving as a genetic reserve. Forests also serve as a source of lumber and as recreational areas. Hence the growing need to conserve our dying forests.

Under the growing pressure of population in the developing countries and over industrialization, urbanization and consumerism in the developed countries, there is large scale deforestation in the tropical and sub-tropical countries of the world. The mechanisms that cause deforestation, fragmentation and degradation are varied and can be direct or indirect. However, the most important factors associated with the decline of forest biological diversity are of human origin. The conversion of forests to agricultural land, overgrazing, unmitigated shifting cultivation, unsustainable forest management, introduction of invasive alien plant and animal species, infrastructure development (e.g. road building, hydro-electrical development, urban sprawl), mining and oil exploitation, anthropogenic forest fires, pollution, and climate change are all having negative impacts on forest biological diversity. And as forests are degraded, so too is biological diversity. This degradation lowers the resilience of forest ecosystems and makes it more difficult for them to cope with changing environmental conditions.

In view of the above, Forestry is a concurrent subject in the Indian Constitution, being under the purview of both the central and state governments. The first forest policy of India was enunciated in 1894 which focused on commercial exploitation of timber and gave importance to permanent cultivation. This was revised in 1952 and a new forest policy recognized the protective role of forests and proposed that one-third of the land area of the country be retained under forest and tree cover. However, much needs to be done to preserve and conserve India’s forests.

Forest conservation support life on earth. It maintains quality of water and air, the basic essentials of existence of life. Stability in soil is possible by trees, enables the land based plants and animals to live. Some of the steps we can take to conserve our forest resources are as follows: Plant more trees and as you plant trees you are planting life too because of the fact that they are giving us fresh air, woods that we people used to build our houses. Trees are natural air filters - taking in carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen. Trees protect sources of drinking water by preventing soil erosion. Thus, these practical steps will not only help in preserving our forests but we will continue to enjoy a good vibrant health along with the wild life that flourishes in the forests.

QV. “Excessive usage of digital media can harm the intellectual development of young children.”

Write an argumentative essay on the basis of this statement. (You can take hints from Unit 3 section 3.7 and from Unit 11 to write the answer). 15

Ans) Our world is overrun by technology. While technology has aided the human race with many advancements and conveniences, it also presents with some unfortunate consequences for our children. Children as young as two can be seen watching a cartoon on a tablet or playing with a cellphone. A child who excessively uses electronics may become isolated and fail to develop normal communication skills such as conversational skills, listening, and making eye contact. A child may also be less able to identify social cues and be less attentive.

Technology has made it convenient to keep our children occupied while we tend to our everyday tasks. While children seem entertained using devices such as tablets, television, cellphones, and computers, many studies show that these devices may have negative effects. Overuse of electronic devices may cause impairment in the development of a child’s social skills. This includes the ability to make friends in person, take responsibility for actions, display good manners, use polite language, control emotions and temper, follow verbal directions, and develop empathy for others.

A child who excessively uses electronics may become isolated and fail to develop normal communication skills such as conversational skills, listening, and making eye contact.  A child may also be less able to identify social cues and be less attentive. A child may avoid social interaction to spend more time using electronic devices or may use the device to avoid social situations due to social anxiety because of underdeveloped social skills.  Not only can the chronic use of technological devices have a negative impact on the development of social skills, it can also affect a child’s mental health.

Studies have also found that technological devices can also have harmful implications on the brain. Excessive use of electronic devices has also been found to have physical effects on a child. Executive functioning in the brain can also be impacted. Executive functions include the ability to plan, prioritize, organize, and control impulses.  The frontal lobe is the area of the brain that controls our executive functioning as well as cognitive skills, such as judgment and emotional regulation.

If you think your child may already be addicted to electronic devices, it’s not too late to start making positive changes in your child’s life. Make time to spend with each of your children one-on-one. Limit the amount of time that your child spends using electronics or social media. Help build your child’s social skills and other interests.  Plan a family fun night that does not include electronic devices.  Also, be a good model; limit yourself when using electronics in front of your children.